(Le Mars) — Tuesday, June 7th is the day for the primary elections. In Plymouth
County republican voters will need to decide upon two candidates seeking the
District 5 county supervisor position as being vacated by Jim Henrich of Akron.
Gary Horton of Akron and Dan Smith of Merrill are both seeking the supervisor
position. Horton has been a city employee for Akron for more than 30 years. He
says he has experience with economic development and believes he can help Plymouth
County secure additional economic development opportunities because of his Akron
city experience.
Smith, is a former director with the Le Mars Community Board of Education. He says
one of his goals would be to have the supervisors conduct some meetings away from
the County Courthouse board room.
Road and bridge repairs make up a large portion of any county’s budget, both Horton
and Smith agree that the Plymouth County Secondary Roads Department has done a good
job of maintaining Plymouth County infrastructure system.
Smith says he doesn’t have any specific goals in mind as a supervisor, other than
to have good communication with officials from the county departments and from the
communities within Plymouth County. Smith says he can draw upon his salary
negotiation experience from when he was a school board director.
Horton says one of his goals as a county supervisor is to watch over spending and
to keep the property tax levy at a low rate.
