Meet the 5 candidates running for Sherburne County Commissioner District 4 in August primary election

Five candidates are running to fill the nonpartisan Sherburne County Commissioner District 4 seat after Felix Schmiesing announced his retirement in April after nearly 30 years in elected office. Minnesota's primary election is on Aug. 9 and the top two candidates will advance to the general election. You can vote absentee until Aug. 8.

Gary Gray, Jerome "Lefty" Kleis, Carol Lewis (a current St. Cloud City Council member), Eric Meyer and Kari Watkins are running for office.

More:Who's running in the 2022 Central Minnesota elections? Meet the candidates

The Times asked candidates what major issues are important to them, what experience they have and what they'd bring to the table. Read on to learn about each person running for Sherburne County Commissioner District 4.

Gary Gray

Gary Gray, 59, has been a life-long Clear Lake resident since he moved to the area when he was four years old. His family has operated a potato farm for four generations in Sherburne County. The farm also produced strawberries.

Gray recently retired from farming in 2020 and will be renting the land out. He's been on the Clear Lake Township Board for 18 years, 12 of them as chairman, "and I've decided … it was time to maybe move on and have a little bit bigger challenge," he said.

With Schmiesing retiring from the board and Gray retiring from the farm, "it was kind of the perfect storm to announce the candidacy to try something different," Gray said. "I feel that I've sowed my oats pretty good in local government here in the township [so] I was ready for the next step."

If elected, Gray said he would work to ensure everyone in the county has access to broadband internet "that's vitally important in this day and age," address the shortage of caregivers and residential housing for vulnerable adults and veterans, and work to promote economic development.

"Most of the time, I'm not one that's going to sit here and promise that I'm going to do this, that or the other thing. I feel that [as] part of the whole local government ― county included ― you need to be able to sit across the table and work through an issue together because there's four other commissioners that will be on the board," Gray said.

Gray said he wants voters to know he is very transparent, open, easy to talk to and trustworthy.

"That's the way I approached the township. That's the way I would approach the county level," he said. "I've always been able to sit down and listen to someone. No problem is too big or too small to listen to. Everybody has a different issue. One thing I've also learned is that you're never ever going to make everyone happy. That's something you just have to reside yourself to be able to swallow. For some reason an issue, however you rectify it, it's not going to appease everyone, and you have to be able to stomach yourself through that and, you know, just move on and realize that that's part of the game."

Gray has served on the Clearwater Public Library Board, the Clear Lake Fire Department Board, the Clearwater River Watershed District Advisory Board, has been the site council chairman of Clearview Elementary School, has served on the St. Marcus Parish Council, was appointed by the United States Department of Agriculture secretary to the U.S. Potato Promotion Board, served on the State Irrigators Board, the East Central Irrigators Board and the Minnesota Area II Potato Research Council.

His father was the fire chief of Clear Lake for years and "community service has been a big part of our entire family," Gray said.

"I think giving back is a huge part of what our family is about. And I think that I just want to continue that legacy. And I also want to continue on what Felix Schmiesing has started," Gray said. "He's created a great foothold in the county from District 4, and I want to continue that process and I hope that the voters see that I can do that."

Jerome 'Lefty' Kleis

Jerome "Lefty" Kleis, 63, has lived in the St. Cloud area and Sherburne County for the past 55 years, "and is ready to be a voice for the people while providing vision for the county," according to his campaign press release.

Kleis was the mayor of Becker from 2013 to 2016 and worked for the state for over 34 years, most of the time within the Department of Corrections.

More:Former Becker mayor Lefty Kleis announces bid for Sherburne County seat

He has served on numerous committees for the city of Becker including the Xcel Energy Advisory Board, the finance committee, Public Works Committee, Parks and Recreation Commission, Fire Joint Powers Board and the Becker County Planning and Zoning Committee. Kleis is also a former member of the St. Cloud Parks Board and former president of the local Lions Club.

Kleis said he helped get Becker proclaimed a Yellow Ribbon City as well as supported the Becker Area Senior Center. The Becker Beyond the Yellow Ribbon is a comprehensive program that connects service members and their families with community support, training and resources.

Kleis said he takes a "transparency, honesty and values-driven approach to leadership" and if elected would work to improve public safety, invest in infrastructure and establish a reliable and sustainable energy plan, which might include nuclear energy.

He has been married to his wife Lisa for 38 years and has three children and six grandchildren with another on the way.

In 2016 the Becker City Council censured Kleis for an alleged pattern of harassing city staff, "potential bullying" and "aggressive communications that may be contributing toward a potentially hostile work environment." The city council also voted to censure Kleis in 2013 for his comments to a city employee during a workshop. Kleis has denied these allegations and considered legal action against the city for defamation and violating his civil rights.

Carol Lewis

As a long-time resident of Sherburne County, St. Cloud City Councilor Carol Lewis, 65, said she was looking at her property tax bill recently and started wondering about what kind of county services are available for those who live in St. Cloud and Sherburne County. Lewis said she decided to run for Sherburne County commissioner to serve as an advocate to bring more tax dollars into the area because, "I don't like just paying and not seeing anything in return."

Lewis is not up for re-election on the St. Cloud City Council this term. If elected as Sherburne County commissioner, Lewis said she would resign her at-large city council position before taking office. She has been on the city council since 2012 and is in her third term.

Lewis graduated from Technical High School and earned a bachelor's and a master's degree from St. Cloud State University. She then obtained her juris doctorate from William Mitchell College of Law (now Mitchell Hamline) and works an an attorney helping clients navigate social security disability insurance.

In the past Lewis served two terms on the St. Cloud School Board, is the past president of the St. Cloud Kiwanis International club, is a nonvoting member of the St. Cloud Planning Commission and serves on the Minden Township Annexation Board. She also runs her own attorney business.

"Let's just put it this way: I am ready to work on day one. I have enough experience that I can transition easily into the county board," she said. "I also think that the area needs an advocate. I think that the missing piece in all of this local government is Sherburne County. I mean, they've been cooperative and they've been helpful, but there's no infrastructure here in our community. And that's lacking."

Lewis said she would be an advocate ensuring everyone in the county has broadband access. In terms of public safety, Lewis said she'd like to see a substation for the Sherburne County Sheriff's Office near St. Cloud.

"We need to work more cooperatively with the city of St. Cloud in terms of policing and so on and doing more with our northern tier townships and Clear Lake Township and Haven ― there's just a gap there in service," she said.

Eric Meyer

South St. Cloud resident Eric Meyer, 63, said he's been involved in government work his whole life.

Growing up Paynesville, he worked as an emergency medical technician after graduating high school for about 10 years before volunteering as a reserve deputy for the Sherburne County Sheriff Department. He's worked with the 911 Commission in Stearns County, worked in technology in California and has worked in the Waite Park Emergency Services Department as the emergency services director and on their police rescue squad.

Meyer has been on the Haven Township Board for 12 years. He has served on the Sherburne County Planning and Zoning Board and the County Board of Appeal and Adjustment and was a small business owner who purchased failing businesses to fix them. He is now retired.

With Schmiesing retiring, Meyer said commissioner seats don't usually change hands, so he took the opportunity.

"The main reason I want to get involved is I like serving others. Helping figuring out the government, to make the government a little bit more transparent. If you've not done of the processes from government before, they can be really confusing. And I've done almost all of them," he said. "And I've kind of found a path into helping others out. People come to me naturally and say, 'Well, how do we deal with this?' 'How do we deal with that?'"

In the pandemic Meyer said Haven Township utilized technology to make government more accessible, like Zoom meetings and remote meetings.

"I think government can be a little bit more friendly, make things work a little easier for the public. That's kind of what I expect from my commissioner. Felix did a pretty good job of that, but he wasn't totally connected with the technology side. So I think I can bring a lot of that technology help and build the processes so it's similar," Meyer said. "Just in my own experience in Sherburne and Stearns County, the process is different almost every time … Some of that should be a little bit more standardized, in my opinion."

Kari Watkins

South St. Cloud resident Kari Watkins, 57, has lived in Central Minnesota for 31 years and has spent 12 of those years in Sherburne County.

Watkins has a degree in business management, has been managing her husband's small business for about a decade and has also had a career in advertising sales and marketing. She has served as a children's ministry director, served on a church board, taught Sunday school and served as a small group and children's leader.

This is Watkin's first bid for public office, and she said she wants to stand up for constitutionally-protected rights.

Watkins said she has concerns about different voting laws and voting machines, "and it's no secret I've been speaking at the county commission meetings about going back to hand-counted paper ballots," she said.

Watkins said she's concerned that Minnesota is counting votes inaccurately and said she believes mask mandates and related enforcement violate residents' and business owners' constitutional rights.

Watkins said she believes masks don't reduce the spread of COVID-19 and are harmful to the body. The Centers for Disease Control cites over 15 studies in the past two years that have confirmed the benefit of universal masking in community level analyses. Each analysis demonstrated that, following directives from organizational and political leadership for universal masking, new infections fell significantly. Studies have also shown that masks do not reduce the wearer's oxygen intake, trap carbon dioxide or weaken your immune system, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Watkins said after a lot of research, discussion with her husband and prayer, she felt running for office was the way to go.

"I'm just a regular person that's running to represent regular people," Watkins said. "I just want to make sure that people's constitutionally protected rights are preserved. And just more communication between the commissioners and the people so they understand what's happening in their government."

Becca Most is a cities reporter with the St. Cloud Times. Reach her at 320-241-8213 or bmost@stcloudtimes.com. Follow her on Twitter at @becca_most. 

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This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: Meet the Sherburne County Commissioner District 4 primary candidates