QA with Cass County Commission candidates ahead of June 11 election

Cass County Commissioner candidates for the June 11 election include Keith Gohdes, Joel Vettel and Marty Johnson. Current commissioners include Chad Peterson, Tony Grindberg, Jim Kaptain, Duane Breitling and Mary Scherling.

Find polling locations and more information about absentee voting in Cass County on its elections website.

The North Dakota Secretary of State’s office has the county’s primary election candidate list on its website. It includes all candidates for for senators and representatives, county commissioners, county attorney, county sheriff and judges.

The League of Women Voters of the Red River Valley hosted and moderated a forum with Cass County Commission candidates ahead of the June 11 election.

Below are candidate responses to questions submitted by the audience.

This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

Opening statements

Gohdes: I’m Keith Gohdes, lifelong resident of Cass County. Born and raised on a dairy farm between Mapleton and Casselton. Other than college and grad school at the University of Grand Forks and a couple of years of teaching in Oregon, I have been a resident of Cass County. I’m married; we had three daughters. Unfortunately, sadly the oldest one passed away four or five years ago, and my two other daughters are both involved in the medical profession. One’s a nurse at Broadway Hospital in Fargo here. The other one is a pharmacist with the Sanford Health System. And Mary, my wife, was a 40 year veteran of the nursing staff at Dakota Hospital and eventually at the Roger Maris Cancer Center. So I’ve had a long association, our family and myself have been involved in Cass County. The candidacy of mine has been fueled by the fact that I am a rural resident out there and longtime board member of the township that I live in, Durban Township. And I’ve served in the Central Cass School Board for three terms in the 2000s. I’ve been active in church politics, and active in the present day planning and zoning with the Cass County Commission. I bring that kind of experience to the table.

Vettel: First of all, thank you. And I want to say thank you to League of Women Voters for hosting this event. And thank you to the other two candidates. Your ability to put yourself out there and run for any office is always a tremendous thing. And I applaud you. And so first off, I am Joe Vettel, longtime resident of Fargo and Cass County. I spent over 20 years in public service, 20 of those in law enforcement. I have a family of my wife and two daughters, one in high school, one in college. And I get asked this question a lot: Why I’m choosing to serve. And it really dates back to something that my dad said, and my dad was a farmer in a small farmstead in Trail County, N.D., and that’s where I grew up. And he said something that always stuck with me. And he said, ‘The best gift that you can give to yourself is to be in service of others.’ And I have held that true. And I feel that anytime I can help in a variety of ways within our community, whether it’s being a leader, a follower, a soldier, a person that’s willing to step up and really contribute. And oftentimes the saying is, things get solved by those who show up. I feel that it’s extremely true. And one of the things I’ve always said that I will do is give back to a community, really an area that I feel passionate about. I feel this is one of the greatest places in the world to raise a family. And my I’ve always said that I want to give back as much as I can, leave it a better place when I leave. Thank you.

Johnson: I’d like to thank the League of Women Voters of Red River Valley for hosting this and the other two forums. I’m a lifelong resident of Cass County. Went to school in Wahpeton, with a degree in ag business, been married to my wife for 37 years. We have two grown children. And just like Keith’s, we had a family setback in December and we lost her son unexpectedly, but have two great grandkids and I have run before in 2016 and 2020. Took second and I really came up really close in 2020. But my issue is, if I get elected, it’s not going to be about me anymore. It’s going to be about the people of Cass County. We the people. And I believe that when you’re a commissioner, I don’t care if it’s city, county or what, you’re working for the residents, all residents of Cass County, and I want to be a voice for them. If they’re having trouble contacting their other commissioner, I welcome to have them come and see me and just all work together. If you have differences, you leave them at the door and you work with the people to come up with a good idea or something for Cass County. So, thank you.

What is your No. 1 concern for the people of Cass County?

Vettel: One of the things that I’ve stated since I announced my candidacy is that this is one of the best places in the world. I hold that in my heart. This is why I chose to raise my family here. I stayed here because of the quality of life, being safe and secure in your homes, providing opportunities for people to grow as individuals working together to create incredible amenities for our citizens. My service on the park board for 12 years spoke to that. My time in law enforcement spoke to that. And it really speaks to my core issue: We are seeing things in our communities that are disappointing. And I think that there’s times where we look to in history and say, ‘We’ve got to take a stand on some of these issues.’ That’s why I think it’s important.

Johnson: They’ve been screaming lately for removing property taxes. I can see working to lower them, but we cannot just demolish them. Because if you ever look at your tax statement, there’s a lot of fire departments, schools and everything. And the next question is, where would we get the money there, but at least listen to them and see if they come up with some ideas. Plus, balance out the economical growth. I mean, I know we have three big cities in Cass County, but we have about five middle sized cities are growing at rapid paces. And you know, kind of just equal everything else. So everybody gets a slice of the pie, and basically listen to the voters, the citizens and work all together.

Gohdes: I think the biggest concern for me is the the growth of Cass County. And the, let’s call them, challenges. And the problems that it’s going to come with it is that it’s an economic engine that’s been generated and it brings into play. In order to grow, you’ve got to have the services provided to draw the workers, the people to it and, like Marty said, that brings in property taxes on the rise. So how to balance those issues to make rational, the growth has got so many things associated with whether it’s taxes or affordable housing, things like that, that the Cass County Commission has really got to be on top of. That’s what I think the no. 1 concern is, the economic growth.

How do you plan to strengthen and expand social service programs to ensure all residents have access to the resources they need to thrive?

Johnson: That’s a loaded question. Thank God I’m a retired person so I’m glad to see it broadly. It’s a sticky situation because we’ve gotten a lot of people coming from foreign countries to move here and and daycare is a problem. You almost have to just lay everything out on the table and then just say, ‘Okay, we got this much budget to work with.’ Let’s see if we can at least give each something to keep them afloat or even find new revenue that we can add to this and work out the best we can. I mean, we can’t just say we can give 100 percent to everybody because you don’t have a crystal ball. It won’t work, but at least help everybody somewhere along the line to feel like they’re getting something out of the deal.

Gohdes: Focusing on the elderly, providing for that in our baby boom generation, retiring, getting older and such. And then the hard thing to realize is that those places like Good Samaritan and Arthur, housing facilities in Buffalo and Tower City, for some of the older people, they don’t exist anymore because of economies of scale and such. It’s forced the consolidation of those services for older people, and so they are going to end up in Fargo. But we have to provide for the whole, it’s all the services across the whole age spectrum is definitely a priority.

Vettel: First off, taking care of those in the most need and most vulnerable in our communities is all of our responsibility. At the end of the day, we’re community. I’m often drawn to the statement that friend of mine used to say: It takes a village to raise a child. And it’s no different from the people that are most vulnerable. And we need to continue to work hard to find those resources to do it. And the government can’t do it all. I’ll be honest with you. Social Services is stretched thin, we know that we need to continue to find great ways to service that population, because they deserve it. And whether it’s our elderly, whether folks that have other challenges, mental health, a variety of things that are out there, but most importantly, we have to look within and what are we doing. And I look at some of the great charity works that are done each and every day in our communities, great work with organizations like Meals on Wheels, those are things that are critical for us to succeed.

Should Public Health be a division of the county?

Gohdes: I think that’s accurate there. And that I always believe general opinion has been that the closer that those services are to the people. I’m a strong believer in the local, whether it’s a school board, or in this case, the public health, it belongs in there. But I realize that it’s the federal government’s aspect in the mandates and such, and then the state then puts that responsibility on local government. But it seems to me that the closer it is to the local services, the public health belongs with the county.

Vettel: I echo that. My employment in healthcare provides me a unique opportunity to see the needs that are out there within health in general. And certainly we look at the work they’re doing at Public Health. Those are critical, they need to get done. And people have a right to that level of healthcare. And I agree, it needs to stay local. I agree that it needs to stay where it can be managed in an effective way that really services the community and services that people that really need it. And so having the eyes on that ball and be able to really connect with the people that they serve, is best done at a level where again, it can be articulated well.

Johnson: I’ll agree with the other two people. You gotta keep it to the local government. Because if it gets to the state or the federal, there’s so much red paperwork. With the time they dig through it, you’d never get an answer. And like I said, just see how much is available out there and help the people who don’t have health insurance — most of us do — at least give them a break to take care of themselves and make sure they’re healthy. And like I said, I think it should be done by the county and at least then it’s local.

How do you plan to ensure County Commission decisions are made with transparently and inclusively with opportunities for meaningful input and feedback from residents? How will you communicate you communicate with constituents to keep them informed?

Vettel: My work as the Public Information Officer for the Fargo Police Department for eight years, I dealt a lot with the media and was the spokesperson for a large police agency and one of the things I strive for every day, is being as transparent as possible, providing as much critical information as I could to the public, because I feel it’s truly important. The best thing we can do is inform the folks that need it. And that was a sometimes a difficult task, because we were dealing with issues that sometimes were very sensitive to our investigations, and often sensitive to the families that were involved. But I felt that it was extremely important to make sure people were aware. But more importantly, people were educated. And I feel the County Commission is no different. People are smart, they get it, they understand it, but they need to be provided the information in a timely fashion so they make great decisions. And that’s the important part.

Johnson: We need transparency county wide, and it’s been lacking for a few years. But what I really would like to see is — we have our meetings at 3:30. And it’s tough for them to do it. Why couldn’t we get a program together, and have quarterly meetings at different locations about every three months, and have the people come and talk to us for an hour or so. It’d be a pilot program, but at least it would give the residents an extra tool in their tool bag to see what we’re being transparent with them and hoping to get feedback from the local citizens.

Gohdes: Transparency in government is very, very important. You’ve got to be honest, above board, communicate very, very well and keep the public informed on the issues and what you’re thinking. Being a longtime basketball and football coach, I wanted the players’ input. And I think that was pretty important to success on the athletic fields and such. So transparency and being on board with the people is very important.

How do you plan to address mental health needs within our county, including increasing access to mental health services, supporting mental health education and awareness programs and collaborating with local organizations to provide comprehensive support for individuals and families?

Johnson: As commissioners, I’d like to have the people come to some of our means if you’re having problems, so we can be aware of them upfront, and then just do the best we can to get looking at the programs available and help these people with mental health. But also family members are going to have to come and support us also. And then we can work as a team to figure out what would be best solutions for each individual or groups.

Gohdes: The mental health hits close to home with me. I am a guardian for my cousin. His mother passed away several years ago and he is a schizophrenic that lives in a group foster home in Moorhead. I absolutely know the necessary support that’s needed from not just the family, but the community as a whole, to make his life as rewarding as it can be. So there’s major amounts of resources that have to be channeled toward that type of person. It’s close to my heart, the care for provision of mental services.

Vettel: Mental health is probably one of our biggest issues that we’re dealing with in our nation right now. The COVID pandemic certainly highlighted and exaggerated a lot of those issues within our communities. And being in healthcare, and also being a former law enforcement officer, I’ve seen firsthand the end results, the tragic results of people going untreated. And one of the things you we talk about a lot is how do we affect change in rural areas? And there are some great programs that we have initiated within healthcare but more importantly, within communities, and one of those is utilizing technology in our rural areas to actually bring a person a caregiver, a psychologist to an active police enforcement scene and have that person talk with somebody. Those are the types of initiatives that are truly critical to solving this issue.

How do you plan to address affordable housing challenges within the county, ensuring that all residents have access to safe and affordable housing options?

Gohdes: I attended the Fargo-Moorhead Metro COG last summer. The main crux of that was the number of jobs that are going to be brought into Fargo-Moorhead and the need for affordable housing. Also, Fargo’s development with the diversion — the challenges of that. There has to be rational decisions made some tough decisions made there, not only in the hands of the developers, but overall planning of how you’re going to deal with the workforce that’s going to come in and provide homes.

Vettel: When you deal with an issue as broad as trying to find housing, and then also overlap that with issues involving workforce, they seem competing, but they’re actually identical issues that we have to handle on a very, very well thought out plan. Oftentimes we look for blame. In these issues, we look for folks to say, ‘This is who caused it.’ Really, we have to come together and find solutions that are going to work for everybody. Because we know people are coming here to work. We want people to come here to work. And one of the basic needs that they’re going to have is housing. And if we don’t solve that issue, we don’t come up with some active solutions now, it’s only going to get worse. And when you look at the studies currently with workforce, we’re not going to have enough people here to do the jobs that we need in 20 years. So we have to continue to take an active role. We recruit people, but they need housing.

Johnson: Housing has always been a problem. But like you said, we have to come up with a solid plan. If we’re going to invite people to come work in our communities, we have to have a plan in place so it runs smoothly, there’s not going to be issues. If we can get ahead of this and work as a commission, with local housing people and contractors, maybe we can come up with something suitable that will work if we just have a solid plan.

What would you do to ensure the creation of affordable and diverse housing options such as accessory dwelling units, duplexes, courtyard apartments and townhomes?

Vettel: Again, we get back to the idea that housing is a critical issue. But especially for our seniors, we know that we as a community, not only is that the right thing to do to keep our elderly in their homes, it is financially responsible as communities to do so. Because if they’re there, if they’re being cared for through areas like Meals on Wheels, that they’re having access to their homes, that they’re able to get to medical services through some of the transportation needs that we can provide as a community that keeps them in their home. And how do we keep them in their home? By making them affordable. You look at those tax incentives that we talked about, in trying to incentivize folks, especially our elderly, to stay where they’re at, to be comfortable in their own homes that they’ve lived in their entire lives. And they should never be forced out because of economic reasons and because they’re taxed out of it. And that’s where we have to look for realistic solutions and incentives to keep them there.

Johnson: With the elderly, I’d really like to see a program where they can stay in their homes, if we can give them breaks on their taxes. They’ve been paying taxes since they were 19, 20 years old. And now they have to be forced out of their homes or look at what some of the towns have to offer for viable housing, go look at all the options before they have to leave their home. Or help them because everybody will get that same help as you get to that age. And if it’s a workable program, you could add something there for next or 70, 80 years.

Gohdes: This is a situation that has developed in time. A couple of generations ago, even going back to my grandparents, they would live and die in the same place. So now, with our changing society, the workforce, the families, men and women working together — it’s put a lot of pressure on older people. Like the other two men up here, it’s very, very important to keep older people as comfortable as possible. And that means keeping them in a setting that they’re familiar with and such. And so, whatever we can do, as far as tax incentives there, family responsibility, try to work with those two things and keep those people in their more comfortable setting.

What would you do to ensure that transportation options are varied, safe, affordable and user friendly?

Johnson: It is a problem and do studies and find out what’s available because like I said, if you’re living on the edge of western Cass County and they want to stay there, we’ll have to look at what they have in their facilities. And I think for smaller communities, you get volunteers from communities that now on Kindred, we offered rides to senior citizens, if they need a ride to a doctor or something and, you know, get them they're safe way backward. But like I said, in Fargo, too, we're gonna have two or Wells Fargo and Horace is big, we'll have to come up with ideas what we can get safe, reliable companies and see what we can put together for some of these senior citizens.

Gohdes: I support public transportation, whether it be the city or the county. It’s very important in this aspect of providing for people over 65. My wife is part of the community of care that is out of Castleton and Marty referred to it is very rewarding. What they’ve tried to do is keep people in their homes by providing rides to do necessary medical appointments and such, and it has been a very rewarding thing for the people involved in that process. So just overall, public transportation, community as a whole, charity should be a priority.

Vettel: What I’ve seen and what I’ve experienced is seniors today are extremely active and far more active than they were in past generations when it comes to being out walking, staying active, staying fit. And we talk a lot about the transportation. When you’ve talked about the great things you’re doing at Valley Senior Services and other rideshare programs, public transportation — that’s all extremely important. We have talked about walkable communities within some of our neighborhoods, making sure people are ready to get out and really experienced that may only utilize transportation, bikes walking. Those are critical issues. I see Arlette Preston in the audience, and she’s been an advocate for walkable communities in Cass County. And I think that’s just as important as talking about rideshare programs. We want to make sure people are not only able to get places but they can do it actively.

What inspired you to run for the County Commission and what specific goals do you hope to achieve if elected?

Gohdes: The impetus to get involved came from support out there in the rural area. The overall idea of coordinating between the rural and the city is very important in my mind. Road systems connect both ways. The farm to market idea out there in the rural area of getting the crop, the produce, to the markets, also opens avenues to get into the city of Fargo where they do their shopping attend those kind of events. So the fact is that those services, they’re provided, the pressure on property taxes, and I really think that we’ve got to have a fair assessment and make sure that’s always in mind — that those property taxes are kept fair.

Vettel: I mentioned service, and I’ll continue to mention that, but I do have an alternative motive. I have a young family, but my daughters are getting older. And I know they’re going to make life choices — where they’re going to live where they’re going to raise their families — and I want to make sure this community of Cass County is the best place it can be for them and for their children, because I truly hope that we can continue the great quality of life that we have in this community. I’ll get back to that same backbone, when it comes to the issue of quality of of life. What does it come down to? It comes down to being able to feel safe and secure in your homes, having opportunities each and every day that you can take in and find the amenities that you need to feel a great experience each and every day. And also, again, access to healthcare, all those things that we have here. We just need to continue that success.

Johnson: I wasn’t going to run this year. But then I started listening to some of the people and they were just looking for someone in my neighborhood. I’m a Norwegian country boy and I use common sense. And I think if we could bring common sense back to the commission, and make it a diverse commission, where you have input from outside of Fargo and listen to those people and work as a team and just work for the betterment of Cass County. We live in the best place. I always said out west is better because it’s better hunting. Cass County is viable. And if we can keep working together as a unit, and helping everybody get a slice of the pie, we’ll probably have colonies asking us what we’re doing right.

Closing statements

Vettel: I want to thank everyone for coming. The political process is a difficult one. There’s the old saying that the two things you don’t want to be seen made is sausages and laws. It’s very true. But the work that we do is extremely important. And for me, I want to get down there and really do the work. And I think oftentimes we get caught up in talking points, we get caught up in not necessarily the important issues. And really what it comes down to is communicating with people, having active and responsible debates and then coming up with good common sense decisions each and every time that we look at issues and for me, it really is personal. I want to make sure that I continue to do all I can to make my home the best place. And so I thank you all for coming tonight. I thank, again, the League of Women Voters for sponsoring this event. Thank you.

Johnson: What I’d really like to do is go on getting signatures and stuff like that. I ran into a group of 21, 22 year old people and they took my picture and they wanted to know what I stood for. And I said, ‘Well, first off, I want you guys to come and vote.’ I want the 30 to 35 people to vote. Increase people’s holdings, because those are the futures 30 years from now. And the working class, the retired people, I want everybody know we have the right to vote and it’s your voice, your choice. And let’s work together and create a county that other counties want to come and see what we’re doing right.

Gohdes: I guess I, too, would thank you for the opportunity. It’s been 10 years since I retired from my teaching career. And tonight I’m kind of reminded of that question that come out all of a sudden from a kid that made you think on your feet. So I thank you for that opportunity to kind of remind me of my teaching career, but I decided to take on the responsibility of representing the rural idea there, but I also realize the importance of what’s going on in Fargo-Moorhead, because my wife worked in Fargo all those years in the hospital setting. That’s what I hope to bring with my candidacy is the understanding we’re in a partnership together between the rural aspect and what’s going on in the metroplex.

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