Supervisor Candidate Q&As - Pam Olson

Name: Pamela Olson

City: Newton

Office sought: Jasper County Board of Supervisors

Occupation: Retired from the Jasper County Engineer’s Office

Education: Civil Engineering Degree from the Hawkeye Institute of Technology

Elected offices held: None

1. Introduce/Reintroduce yourself to Jasper County voters and explain why you want to be on the board of supervisors.

I am Pam Olson. After graduating from Hawkeye Institute of Technology with a degree in Civil Engineering I spent the next 41 years in the Jasper County Engineer’s Office. I was hired as a civil engineering tech doing survey, project design and project inspection. After the retirement of the assistant to the engineer I was promoted to that position, at which time I continued to do design and inspection while overseeing the other technicians, finalizing all construction projects and doing the budget and five-year construction program in conjunction with the engineer. Over the years I have worn many different hats, I worked with the Maytag Junior Achievement team, was a member of the Newton American Business Women’s Association, was a certified CPR and First Aid instructor with the Red Cross, twice president of the Iowa County Engineer Office Organization and have taught Work Zone Safety with Iowa DOT for 23 years and continue to do so. With my experience with county budgets, Iowa DOT budgets, working with FEMA grants and dealing with issues from the public I believe I am qualified to do a great job as your supervisor. (183 words)

2. Supervisors are working with the engineer to develop a new gravel roads maintenance strategy. How important are secondary roads issues to you and what do you think is the most economical way to address them?

I attended one of the workshops they held a couple of weeks ago and did not hear anything new that has not already been done by previous engineers. The new engineer may have different names for the processes but that just is what we need to continue to do. Resurfacing as needed in specific areas due to high traffic and or moisture, now it is called spot rock, which has been for at least 43 years. Shaping of the roads has been done actively since the hiring of a new engineer in 1996. I believe his quote in the NDN was “there is gold in them there ditches” referring to the amount of rock in the ditches. He purchased a piece of equipment to help do the job which was then sold when he was replaced. The first road that was stabilized in 2000 was South 44th Avenue East & West. It had 400 vehicles a day and was stabilized using CSS1 oil cut with water. There have been other products used such as oil cut with diesel fuel and fly ash. We have also done some reclamation and stabilization on North 87th Avenue West and West 20 Street North for a detour for the bridge replacement on F17 just west of Highway 14. All of these projects were done within the engineer’s budget. The current engineer is asking for an additional $3.5 million. I asked where this money would come from but received no answer. I feel the roads are very important to our economic development. If you can’t get goods in or out, why would someone what to bring an opportunity here? (274 words)

3. For the past few years, the county has lowered its levy in response to higher property valuations. But at what point would you ever consider raising the levy? Are there services that would eventually need taxpayer dollars?

I would say that the levy should only be raised if the budget could no longer be achieved with the preset levy. This should be done only after public meetings allowing the people to have a voice in what is happening and explain what is needed. The meetings need to take place so all citizens have a chance to be there.

4. While other rural Iowa counties are shrinking, Jasper County is seeing some growth. How do you envision the county will grow or should grow in the coming years when it comes to housing and economic developments?

I believe there is a Jasper County Economic Development Program and I feel we should support them and aid them in what they need to bring projects into the county. I also feel we need to support and take care of our public schools. If we do not support our public schools, I believe we will see property values go down and then it will be hard to convince developers to come into our county.

5. Conservation received ARPA money from the county for its environmental education center. At the time, the conservation director was worried the board would not support it. Do you support conservation? Could the county do more?

Yes, I support Jasper County Conservation. I believe they are a vital part of our children’s education in protecting our wildlife and environment. Without seeing all of the budget numbers, I am not qualified at this time to know if we could do more to financially support them, but I think that most of us could do more to promote our conservation just by talking to others about our program.

6. Public safety continues to expand thanks to the advanced life support (ALS) services and upcoming ARPA funding allocation. With these extra services, do you think there will ever come a point where more tax dollars are needed to fund them?

What I have seen of the numbers the ARPA money will run out after about three years. I feel this is an important program and the supervisors should be working now to fit it into the budget when it is needed to continue services.