On Nov. 7, Harrison County voters will choose from the various candidates running for mayor, city council and school board.
The Missouri Valley Times-News reached out to candidates ahead of the election with a brief question and answer.
Following are the candidates' responses, published verbatim. All candidates were contacted; if you do not see their answers here, they either did not respond or elected not to participate.
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Name: Travis Kuhlman
City/town: Logan
Candidate for: Logan-Magnolia School Board
Explain who you are: I am a husband, father of 6, and a Lo-Ma alum who moved back into the district in 2017. After graduating from the University of Nebraska Omaha, I have worked in the hospitality industry for the Hilton family of hotels for 20 years. I want each day to be the best it can be for my wife and kids, and I let the “want” help drive me with everything I do. In my spare time (yes there is some time even with 6 kids) I can be found running kids to lessons, practices, and events. I also enjoy coordinating and supporting our youth extracurricular programs, and coaching a little basketball.
Why did you run for this position? I am running because I am passionate about the Logan-Magnolia School District and our community. I can bring balance when it comes to collaboration, communication, culture, and financial management. I believe it is important to continue to help push ways to market our district with passion and persistence to all existing and future faculty and families of the district. The school board should be built and focused to put the right administrative pieces in place for day to day success. It is important to create opportunities and manage within a budget, communicate clearly with our district residents, and take action on the exhaustive community efforts in bettering our district by supporting our kids and staff while making smart financial decisions. I believe there is great opportunity currently in much of what I have mentioned, and am confident I can help better our district with focus in these areas.
What from your background qualifies you for this position? Currently, I have a wife who teaches, and 4 kids within the school walls. While that alone does not qualify me, it’s the starting point in my passion to create the best school district that we can provide. Additionally, I get the opportunity each day to lead a team of 150 team members with a focus on culture, open and funneled out communication, and management of multi-million dollar budgets and projects, including a recent 15 million dollar renovation. My team and I get a scorecard daily with guest/customer feedback, monthly with a financial review of results, and annually with a team member survey. Like my career, as a board member I would welcome being held to a high standard to action and deliver results that are best for the district and community.
What are your goals if elected? The school board and its members should be macro-focused on its long term goals and plans for the betterment of our kid’s opportunities. There are several open ended items that are stuck in the weeds of the day to day. One of my main goals is to push to action these items while more clearly communicating the “why” of what we are doing and why we are doing it. I know we have good people in many of the right places, but we need to more innovative in our thinking, communicate at a much higher level with our district residents, and action items that are supported.
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Name: Derrick Mether
City/town: Logan
Candidate for: Logan Magnolia School Board
Explain who you are: My name is Derrick Mether. I have been married to my wife Corrie for 12 years and together we have 3 children, Amelia, Harrison and Elias. On our family farm we raise corn and soybeans as well as Hereford cattle. I attended the Logan Magnolia School District graduating in the class of 2000. My local education prepared me to further my studies at Iowa State University, graduating in the class of 2004 with a degree in Animal Science. I have been a volunteer member of the Magnolia Fire Dept since 2004 I have been a member of the Harrison County Farm Bureau since 2005. I have served the members of the Harrison County Farm Bureau as Secretary, Vice President, President, and Voting Delegate for the Iowa Farm Bureau. My family are members of the Logan Christian Church and I currently teach the Junior High Sunday school classes.
Why did you run for this position? I have lived in Harrison County all my life and I care about the success, health, and vitality of our local communities. This community has provided me many opportunities growing up and I have worked and will continue to work to ensure future generations have the same or even greater opportunities. With my involvement in the Harrison County Farm Bureau I have helped to get the green house built, put welders in the shop and do what I could to improve our school and our community. If elected, I feel contributing my time and talents to the school board will be the next step as an opportunity to give back to my local community. We have an excellent school and I would like the opportunity to be a part of continuing this tradition and making it even better for future generations.
What from your background qualifies you for this position? As a beginning farmer I have learned to use the resources available to our family to accomplish the goals we have set. All of this has been done while operating under a tight budget to find success, while continuing to grow our operation. I have been fortunate enough to have served on various boards which has taught me to set and accomplish goals while bringing people together. I am a product of the Logan Magnolia School District and our children will be the same.
What are your goals if elected? I believe that the Logan Magnolia School District does a great job challenging the talented and gifted children that are driven to succeed. However, I feel there is room for improvement in the students that do not excel in the standard classroom. I am excited about the bond building acquisition and the opportunities it will offer to further add and teach classes with hands on learning. I would like to see an FFA program in Logan, as agriculture is our largest local industry. We also need to complete the new building project as close to what was promised to our voters and as close to set budget as we possibly can.
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Name: Julie Witte
City/town: Logan
Candidate for: Logan-Magnolia School Board
Explain who you are: My name is Julie Witte and I am running for my third term on the LoMa school board. I grew up in Magnolia and I am a Logan Magnolia graduate. I attended Iowa State University where I graduated with a degree in Child and Family Services and I have worked for the Department of Human Services for 18 years. My husband, Jason is a School Psychologist at Omaha Public Schools and we have three children in the school district, McKenna who is a Senior, Beckham who is a Freshman and Payton who is in 7th grade.
Why did you run for this position? I chose to run for another term because I am very proud of the accomplishments we have made in the past 8 years and look forward to focusing on education and making sure academic success is a priority.
What from your background qualifies you for this position? I believe my background of commitment to this community and my dedication to children qualifies me for this position. The last four years I have served as Vice President of the LoMa School Board. I am the current Treasurer of the Teacher Support Organization (TSO), Vice President of the LoMa Teammates Mentoring Program, President of the Logan Optimist Club, and a member of the LoMa Youth Soccer Board and LoMa Swim Team Board. I love working with our youth and watching them succeed.
What are your goals if elected? If re-elected, my goal is to continue pursuing excellence in education, while making sure we stay financially stable. Construction of our new gym and classrooms will be starting soon and I want to make sure we accomplish the goals we set forth when we passed the vote last year.
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Name: Quin Mann
City/town: Logan
Candidate for: School Board
Explain who you are: I am a 2012 Logan-Magnolia graduate. I have lived in Logan my whole life outside of my time at Iowa State University where I majored in Agricultural Studies and Biology. My wife Haleigh, a 2013 Lo-Ma graduate, and I have 2 children. Brooks age 2 and Brecklyn, 7, a 2nd grader at Lo-Ma Elementary.
Why did you run for this position? I am running to allow the public a new face and ideals to make decisions for their kids. Having multiple conversations with the public has shown there is a distrust with the district and the decisions that have been made recently. Instead of adding my own concerns, I decided to just try and help in the “reconstruction” of a board the public can put their trust in to.
What from your background qualifies you for this position? As a life time resident of this community I have volunteered for many community events, coached sports teams, donated to the school, and most recently joined as a member of the Booster Club. I have proven that I am dedicated to making this district a better place for my children, and yours.
What are your goals if elected? My goals are to leave the board in a better position than when I arrived. I want the conversations that community members have to be mostly based around the good decisions, rather than the bad. I want to develop a better sense of transparency to the public on the progress and goals of the board, so the parents of the kids know people are fighting for them.
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Name: Danny Cohrs
City/town: Logan
Candidate for: School Board
Explain who you are: My name is Dan Cohrs. My wife Chris and I have lived in Logan all our lives. Our four children all graduated from Logan-Magnolia High School and four of our six grandchildren attend Logan-Magnolia school. I have been farming since I graduated from high school and for the past three years my son and I started raising chickens for Lincoln Premium Poultry, a branch of Costco. I was a ramp serviceman at United Airlines for 23 years. I am currently the President of the School Board and have been on the board for several years.
Why did you run for this position? I am running for re-election because I want to maintain the high level of education that Logan-Magnolia School is noted for. I would like to continue to make sure our classroom sizes stay below 20 students. Financially our school is strong and I want to make sure it stays that way. There are a lot of challenges taking place in the next year and I feel my experience on the Board will help us all work together to be successful.
What from your background qualifies you for this position? I have been a self-employed farmer all my life. I have had to balance budgets and work within those budgets. As a farmer and a custom feeder, I understand the burden that taxes put on businesses and individuals. My years at United Airlines gave me experience working with employees and management. I have worked with the schools' finances for many years while on the Board and I believe this experience will be helpful in the next few years as we finish the school addition.
What are your goals if elected? One of my goals is to use the facility we purchased to create interest in classes for plumbing, carpentry, electrical and mechanics so our younger high school students have a better idea of career opportunities to lead them into the college classes they can take at the Larry and Bunnie Buss Center We are currently in the process of finalizing the addition to our school, and I would like to make sure that our elementary classrooms get built because we are in desperate need of more space for our growing school. The PPLE vote failed. The people voiced their opinion loudly. I am not in favor of running it again. I believe that with my experience we can be creative with grants and other donations to finish our project.
