Talsma apologizes for late flyers with bond referendum details

A number of flyers that were supposed to be sent to citizens before the March 2 special election had arrived late, which led to one county supervisor apologizing for the error a day after the $3.6 million bond referendum had already passed.

Jasper County Supervisor Brandon Talsma said in a video posted on his Facebook page on Wednesday, March 3 that officials were struggling to get the message out. One county employee came up with the idea for a mail-in flyer.

Talsma clarified the flyers were not sent to every registered voter in the county because it “didn’t make sense” to be “doubling up on houses.” The county contracted with a company to print the flyers.

“It was mailed out on the 17th (of February). We do not know why it took that long to get here. We are extremely upset about it. We are not happy about it. And that was not our intentions,” Talsma said after apologizing to viewers.

Jasper County’s intention, he added, was to get flyers out to citizens two to three weeks before the election. According to comments some citizens made on social media, the flyers had not arrived until the day before, the day of or the day after.

Others affirm they received their flyers in February.

“Something went wrong there,” Talsma said. “We had a good plan. It did not go according to plan, and for that I do apologize.”

The county learned a lesson, and it won’t be repeated, the supervisor said.

Special election results approve the bond referendum

The bond referendum to finance the construction and remodeling costs of the new Jasper County administration building — the former NewCare Health Services clinic — passed with 64% approval from voters.

Jasper County only needed 60% of the total votes to be in favor of the bond.

According to results released by the auditor’s office, a total of 1,351 people voted in the special election. Talsma was disappointed by the low voter turnout in the county of more than 37,000 people.

From what he gathered speaking with Jasper County Auditor Dennis Parrott, Talsma reasoned it is difficult to get people interested in special elections.

“Even schools when they hold their special elections don’t have very good voter turnout,” Talsma said. “… If you exercised your right to vote yesterday: Thank you. I don’t care if you voted for it or against it, thank you for getting out to vote.”

Now that the votes have been canvassed and the bond authorized, the county’s project is a go. Officials are optimistic the construction work and subsequent move-in of the dozen or so county departments will take 12-18 months.

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext. 6560 or cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com