(Spirit Lake)– Our series of profiles of the candidates running for the District 5 seat on the Dickinson County Board of Supervisors continues. Today (Fri.) we hear from Jeff Thee…
“Well I’ve been in the Iowa Great Lakes now for just over 30 years and started my tenure here working right there at KUOO for a number of years, owned Lakes Television, worked at the chamber and did some marketing at Parks Marina and now have my own broadcasting on Facebook and You Tube and spent three terms on the city of Spirit Lake City Council. I sat on different boards of directors with the Iowa Great Lakes Chamber, the Spirit Lake Chamber, the Bedell Family YMCA, Upper Des Moines, so I’ve had the opportunity to be involved in a great many of things throughout my time here in the great lakes.”
Thee says the pandemic and the impact it’s having on area businesses and the impact it will have on the county’s budget are his biggest concerns right now…
“I would guess local lodging revenues are going to have taken a beating. I’ve talked to shop owners, a lot of their profits are down. Some did better than others, but for the whole, we’ve got a lot of shop owners with profits down. Area restaurants that were able to open eventually providing safe dining atmospheres, drive-through, but there capacity was diminished. Obviously local farmers are not getting banner market dollars for their hard work. And we have those that have been out of work, hours cut, businesses under performing. And this is going to take time to recover from. We are going to get on the other side of this but all this impact on what is yet to be absorbed is going to leave a lot of questions when the supervisors begin work on the ’21-’22 budget.”
Thee says reduced resources for mental health also weigh heavily with him. And he says COVID-19 is only making the problem worse…
“I mean we had issues with people whether it was drug abuse, alcohol abuse, domestic abuse, prior to all of this. And with the stress put on people with families, even with children, I’m really worried about moving forward what that’s going to do to the state of the mental health for our county. You know, I’ve got great relationships with State Representative John Wills, State Representative Megan Jones, State Senator Zach Whiting, and it may take some conversations and looking for answers, even to the state level, on what could be done for our citizen’s mental health in moving forward. They shouldn’t be spending time in Dickinson county lock up. A lot of these people should be getting professional help.”
Thee says keeping Dickinson county progressive but also protecting, enhancing and preserving natural resources will be key for the future.
