WILLMAR -- Kandiyohi County Commissioners Dennis Peterson and Richard Larson filed for re-election Tuesday for four-year terms.
Filings for local, state and federal offices opened Tuesday and close July 15.
Peterson, of Spicer, and Larson, of Willmar, are the only two commissioners up for re-election this year.
Peterson, who is finishing his 16th year on the board, said there are a "lot of things happening" in Kandiyohi County and he wants to continue working on them.
Larson said he promised himself he "wasn't going to fool anybody" and would step down when he no longer found the job enjoyable. So far, he said, that hasn't happened.
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They both cited state funding constraints as the top issue to contend with as commissioners.
Larson, who is in his 12th year on the board, said the state is "spending out of our checkbook" by increasing mandates for services counties must provide while at the same time reducing funding.
Like all counties, Peterson said Kandiyohi County is "hit by the legislative budget cuts" that make it difficult for counties to provide mandated services within the new 3.9 percent levy limit placed on counties.
"It's a challenge to keep providing the needed services and the mandated services," Peterson said. He said his past experience on the county board and state organizations "gives me a good background to continue and keep the county going in the right direction."
Larson said it's important to "learn from the past" in order to "look to the future" to be able to look at the "everyday problems" in the county and "tackle them and take care of them."
Larson represents District 2, which includes the eastern part of Willmar. Peterson represents District 4, which includes the north-eastern part of Kandiyohi County.
-- Carolyn Lange
WILLMAR -- Denis Anderson, Steve Gardner and Jim Dokken have filed for re-election to the Willmar City Council. Their four-year terms expire at the end of 2008.
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The other council member whose term expires this year is Cindy Swenson, who represents Ward 3.
The filing period for city elections during which primaries are held began Tuesday and ends July 15.
The primary election is Sept. 9.
The filing dates for cities where no primary is held are Aug. 26 to Sept. 9.
The general election is Nov. 4.
Anderson, 61, has represented Ward 1 on the council since 1998. He is chairman of the council's Finance Committee and is a member of the Kandiyohi County and City of Willmar Economic Development Commission's Joint Powers Board.
He is manager of live growing services for Jennie-O Turkey Store.
Gardner, 49, has represented Ward 2 since 2004. He is owner of Steve's Vac Shack.
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He is chairman of the council's Labor Committee, is a member of the Finance Committee and serves as council liaison to the Willmar Design Center.
Dokken, 72, has represented Ward 4 since 1998. He served two years in the Minnesota National Guard and 20 years in the U.S. Air Force, retiring as a senior master sergeant.
He is a member of the Finance Committee and Community Development Committee. He is council liaison to the Rice Memorial Hospital board, liaison to the Senior Citizens Center and attends meetings of the Municipal Utilities Commission.
-- David Little
WILLMAR -- Construction crews will be applying seal coating to two major west central Minnesota highways this month.
According to a Minnesota Department of Transportation news release, construction crews will apply the seal coating to the existing pavement on state Highway 23 from Clara City to the Willmar bypass and on U.S. Highway 75 from Madison to the state Highway 7 intersection.
Work on the two highways is expected to start Monday and last until July 18, weather permitting. Motorists can expect minor traffic delays as flaggers or a pilot car will direct commuters through the work zones.
The pavement preservation of the two highway sections, along with another section on U.S. Highway 14 in southern Minnesota, will cost $668,937.
