Election will mean supervisor changes in 2021

Change will be coming to the Chickasaw County Board of Supervisors in 2021, thanks to last week’s election that saw two new members elected.
Granted, one of those “newbies” is actually a supervisor veteran, but no matter how you look at it, 40 percent of the board will turn over when we flip the page to a new year.
The lone incumbent re-elected was current Board Chairman Jake Hackman, who topped Auditor Joan Knoll by about nine percentage points to win another four-year term in District 3, which covers the western part of New Hampton and Dayton and Richland townships.
The other incumbent running, though, was not as fortunate as Democrat David Tilkes fell to former Supervisor Rick Holthaus in a three-way race in the largely rural District 1 that covers much of the northern part of the county.
The one race that was guaranteed to bring a new supervisor to the seat was in District 4 — which covers the eastern part of New Hampton and rural townships to the east of the city. New Hampton City Councilman Matt Kuhn, who ran as a Republican, topped and former Chickasaw County Emergency Management Director Ken Rasing by a mere 12 votes in a race in which 1,385 ballots were cast. Rasing had bested incumbent Steve Geerts in the June primary.
So what does it all mean? Well, that depends on whom you ask.
Hackman said he had high hopes for the board that will be in place in 2021, and not just because Republicans regained control.
“I think this board has a lot of potential, a lot of experience,” he said. “Matt’s going to bring a city experience with him, Rick is a former supervisor with a lot of knowledge about the county.”
— For more on this story, see the Nov. 10 Tribune