Robins seeks another term as District 1 supervisor

Dean Robins is seeking re-election this fall as Clarke County Board of Supervisor for District 1. Robins is running on the Republican ticket, and does not currently have any contenders.

The following questionnaire was supplied to Robins. Minor changes have been made for formatting purposes.

Background:

I was born and raised in Clarke County and graduated from Murray Community School, along with my wife, Janet. We raised our three children in Murray, where we still reside. Prior to becoming a supervisor, I spent 34 years as a crop specialist for Agriland FS.

Why are you seeking re-election?

Prior to becoming a supervisor, I served on the Murray City Council, where I saw the need to help our community work through every day issues, as well as the long-term issues and challenges that are constantly being faced by them. As a former city council member and now a supervisor, I know that it takes a lot of time and dedication to work toward solutions that will provide the best benefit and outcome for these situations, and hopefully continue to benefit the community for years to come. Sometimes situations can seem nearly impossible, but you have to work together to find the best possible outcome.

Experience:

My past experience working with a local cooperative and my customers, along with a farming operation of my own, has given me many opportunities to work with budget and cash flows at many different levels with many different scenarios.

When previously serving on the Murray City Council, I gained experience working with a city budget, which often parallels a county budget. When working with government budgets, you are tasked with setting policies as well as budget oversight. While it takes time to learn all the internal responsibilities of each department, along with the duties of the numerous boards I serve on, my goal the past six years has been to have a working relationship with each County department and board, and to allow them to maintain the responsibility of public service while remaining responsible with their budgets.

Three most important issues to be addressed:

1. The State of Iowa has worked diligently during the past sessions to reduce taxes in many ways. House File 718 limits counties and cities as to what will be allowed to be levied in the next four years. The ultimate goal is to lower your local property taxes. With that being said, we will need to look at ways to increase growth in our communities while decreasing expenses. In today’s environment, this will be a major task to accomplish without giving up too much on services provided to our citizens.

2. Roads, bridges and culverts will continue to be a major topic, as they should be. With the rising costs of equipment and product, we need to be keenly aware of the budget while maintaining our investments in equipment, and attempting to provide services as best we can and stay within our budget.

3. A Sanitation Transfer Station is, in my opinion, a major need. Several years ago, there was a discussion and plans made to build a transfer station within Clarke County. Our garbage is currently being taken to Madison County and Union County, which is costly and is an inconvenience for our citizens. I feel that there is support and a need for revisiting the feasibility of building a local transfer station that could potentially include recycling and subleasing to private industry with the goal of becoming self-sustaining.

There will always be needs and concerns within our county that will change with the circumstances of the times. As a supervisor, my objective will be to continue to the best of my ability to be responsible with the budget while helping Clarke County continue to thrive and be a place we are proud to call home.