Candidates for Stearns County Commissioner: Tarryl Clark

ST. CLOUD -- This week we are hearing from the three candidates running for Stearns County Commissioner in District 1. Today WJON news talks with Tarryl Clark of St. Cloud.

She is a former State Senator and also previously ran for Congress is the 6th District. But she says this is the office she's always had her eye on.

When I was never going to run for office this was the one office that I thought I'd like to run for some day.  Truly at least 25-plus years I've thought that.  The county really makes a difference in all of our lives.  We're in a community that has three different counties in it, and so working together is a really important thing.

Clark says, if she is elected to the county board, she wants to focus on improving efficiency with better technology.   She says transportation, infrastructure, and job creation are some of her top things she'd like to work on. As well as the "things that keep people up at night."

Being worried about parents who are maybe in a transition, or a senior themselves that is vulnerable, mental health challenges, safety issues.  Those are things that together we can work on.

She says one of the biggest challenges facing the county is our changing demographics from an aging population to a more diverse one.

We have had people move into the area that in the last 15-20 years that came from another country or another part of our country and they've got a lot to offer.  Figuring out how to best utilize everybody.  Because frankly, with the shrinking work population we've got to have everybody ready to be productive.

Clark says she will make being a commissioner a top focus and will not be doing a significant other job or any lobbying, outside of her role as commissioner.

Clark is currently the board chair of the Homefront Resource Center.

Clark, Steve Gottwalt, and Craig Bomgaars will face each other in the August 14th primary election. The top two will advance to the general election in November.

Currently Stearns County Commissioner in District 1 Dwayne Mareck is not running for re-election.