Election 2018: One Lyon County Commissioner spot open

There is only one Lyon County Commissioner spot up for election this year. Incumbent Steve Ritter is running against challenger Al Kruse.

This seat is NOT in the Minneota district.

That chair is held by Gary Crowley. As a result, Minneota area voters will not get a chance to vote in this election.

Ritter said he had been involved for 16 years in Lyon County government affairs and he finds the most important issue is keeping costs down.

“Keeping our taxes and levies down,” he said. The county board has also been dealing with the issue of Mental Health, hoping they can help the county attain help for those who need it.

“Mental health is quite a crisis in this country. We have a good joint powers board with four other counties, Western Mental Health,” he said.

Ritter sits on the board of that local institution.

“A lot of collaboration goes on,” Ritter said. “It’s good to be able to work together. I want to continue to work on collaboration between the counties.”

Kruse agrees that mental health care is one of the big concerns. He said, “We need to stop the opioid epidemic and to provide mental health care,” he said.

“Putting people with mental health concerns in jail is not a solution. It shouldn’t be a stigma to seek mental health care.”

Kruse said that the other big issues facing Lyon County at present are affordable housing and high speed rural broadband Internet. It’s necessary for business, education, and social connectivity, he said.

“We need both of these to bring back the millennials to live and work here,” he said. “We also need to maintain our infrastructure.”

Kruse said he was retired and looking for a place to use his experience on the Marshall-Lyon County Library Board and its foundation board.

“Elections are about choices,” Kruse said. “I thought I’d give the people a choice by taking this opportunity to run for county commissioner. (Mr. Ritter) was running for his fourth term unopposed. I’m offering the voters a new set of eyes.”

— Some information provided by the Marshall Independent.