On Wednesday night, all ten candidates were present at the Beltrami Farm Bureau’s commissioner candidate forum.
Candidate John Carlson answers a question at the Beltrami County Farm Bureau’s commissioner forum.
Three incumbents are in the race with two open seats.
The contentious redistricting decision resulted in enough population moving into new districts to warrant all five commissioner seats for election this year.
Candidates Joe Gould and Don Heinonen are vying to be the next commissioner for District 2 in a special two-year term; incumbent Craig Gaasvig and challenger Mark Morrissey is in the race for District 1 for a four-year term; incumbent Richard Anderson and challenger Brian Merschman are running for a four-year term in District 3; incumbent Tim Sumner and challenger Joseph Neft are vying for a special two-year term in District 4; candidates Sandy Hennum and John Carlson are running for a special two-year term in District 5.
Todd Haugen, KB101 Program Director and Bemidji School Board member, moderates the Commissioner Candidate Forum.
The candidates answered a number of questions related to farming, such as noxious weed management and tax-forfeited land sales to farmers. All candidates appeared in favor of the new construction option for the Beltrami County Jail project.
A forum video is available on the Beltrami County Farm Bureau Facebook page.
The Bureau will hold another candidate forum next week that will feature the two Beltrami County Sheriff Candidates.
