Weise looks at balancing needs, resources if reelected

RITZVILLE — Jay Weise said he planned to run for a second term as Adams County Commissioner when he was elected in 2020, because it takes a while to learn the job and do it effectively. 

“There’s a whole bunch of stuff you don’t know,” he said. 

Weise, commissioner for District 1, is being challenged for the seat by Hank Rivard. The race will be on the Aug. 5 primary ballot; primary races are restricted to the district the commissioner represents. 

Weise said he had experience in county government before he ran for commissioner, and it took him about two years to learn the intricacies of the job. 

That experience in county government influenced some of the goals he wanted to pursue, he said. Some of the work he wanted to do has started – commissioners are working on updating the county’s policy manual.

“We’ve done about 5% of that,” he said.

Weise and Commissioner Dan Blankenship were both elected in 2020, and wanted to build a strategic plan for the county. That project hasn’t started yet, Weise said. 

Commissioners have worked to improve communications with residents and make county government easier to access, he said. Commissioners are meeting on a regular basis with other elected officials, which has improved communication not only with the commissioners but between the department heads, he said. 

Adams County is working on updating its financial management software with the goal of making transactions easier for employees and county residents alike. A new and more user-friendly website is under development and should be ready by the end of the year, Weise said. 

Commissioners also have worked to improve connections with other government agencies and are putting additional effort into looking for federal and state funding for projects. That helped the county obtain funding for an ongoing project to widen bridges which would in turn allow widening of the East Low Canal. That will facilitate the transition of farms in the Odessa area from groundwater to surface water for irrigation.

Weise credited the county public works department and Adams County Engineer Scott Yaeger for their work in maintaining and upgrading county roads. Public works officials and the commissioners have worked to find funding sources. 

“We’ve done a really wonderful job of pulling some of that off,” he said. 

County government is complicated by the need to allocate limited resources among competing priorities, Weise said, what he called “the dance.” He cited the Adams County Jail as an example. 

The jail has been closed since May 2022 and is in need of modernization, Weise said. County officials have some money to update the jail, but the commissioners also have to think about how the county will pay to keep the jail running and recruit staff once the construction is completed.

“That’s the dance,” he said. 

A smaller rural county like Adams County faces the challenge of finding ways to meet expensive state mandates with limited resources, Weise said. Adams County, for instance, must pay for the defense of indigent defendants in court cases.

“We spend a million dollars a year on indigent defense,” he said. 

A new state law mandates that each county must have its own coroner, which will be a new expense that Weise estimated would cost Adams County between $150,000 and $200,000.

“That’s what hits us,” he said.

As expenses grow, county revenue doesn’t always grow with it. County officials are limited to a 1% increase in property taxes each year — but Weise said commissioners don’t want to hammer the taxpayers, either. 

“With the 1% limit you never get ahead,” he said. “Mostly you just stay afloat.”

Weise said there are projects that would be a good fit in Adams County, but also pose a fiscal challenge. County officials may be able to find the money, possibly through outside funding, to start a project. The challenge is sustaining an initiative after the initial funding runs out.

“Sustainability is the big thing for county government,” he said. 

A project may sound good, Weise said, but commissioners always have to take the possible downsides into account.

“What if it doesn't work?” he said.

One of the initiatives he wants to pursue if he’s reelected is what he called “succession planning.” Many county functions are managed by one or two people, he said, and when those people leave they take all their knowledge with them. Weise said he wants to work on finding ways to keep that knowledge even as people leave.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.