What the heck is a county commissioner — and why should you care?

When I hear “commissioner,” my brain always goes to an early-’90s television show I barely remember. The real Commish, however, has fewer detectives and considerably more drainage, roadwork, and budget documents.

A county commissioner is not the mayor of the county, and one commissioner cannot simply decide a road should be fixed by Tuesday—as handy as that would have been for my commute through Erhard last month. Commissioners are members of the county board, which makes decisions about county budgets, taxes, roads, public safety, public health, human services, and more.

In other words: If something is too big for one city or township to handle alone—but too local to be decided entirely in St. Paul—there is a good chance county government is involved.

In Otter Tail County’s District 2, incumbent Wayne Johnson faces Jeff Gontarek in their third general-election matchup on Tuesday, Nov. 3.

If you have never paid much attention to this spot on your ballot—or if you are voting for the first time—here is the part that makes county commissioner different from so many of the offices we spend more time arguing about:

County commissioner is a nonpartisan office. Nonpartisan does not mean commissioners never disagree. Budgets, tax levies, road projects, and service priorities are not simple decisions, and reasonable people can have very different ideas about them.

But commissioners have to work with everyone. And something I think is actually pretty great about that is they are not elected to represent a political party on the county board. They are elected to represent the people in their district while making decisions that affect the entire county.

They still bring their own experiences, values, and priorities to the job—of course they do. But the work is not supposed to begin with, “What is my party’s position on this?” It begins with the information in front of them and the question of what will best serve Otter Tail County.

Makes one wonder what it would look like if all elected positions were nonpartisan, but that is a column for another day.

County commissioners work with cities, townships, county staff, state agencies, businesses, nonprofits, and residents across the county—including people who did not vote for them and may not agree with them on much of anything.

A county commissioner can have strong opinions. But strong opinions do not repair a road, balance a budget, or make a county program work. That takes preparation, compromise and the ability to work with people who may see the problem differently.

District 2 voters can hear directly from Johnson and Gontarek at a candidate forum Saturday, Sept. 26, from 1 to 1:50 p.m. at the Ottertail City community room, 103 Lake Ave. S. The event will also be livestreamed on the East Otter Tail League of Women Voters YouTube channel.

So, before you skip past county commissioner on the ballot, take a few minutes to learn what the job is and hear what your candidates have to say. The real Commish may not have detectives, but the job is worth investigating.

Nicole WK can be reached at nicole@pelicanrapidspress.com