Five running for four Extension Council seats

Voters will have the opportunity to elect four members of the Montgomery County Extension Council from a slate of five candidates at the Nov. 6 general election.

“The council members elected this year will be involved in bringing educational opportunities to Montgomery County for the next four years,” Alan Ladd, Regional Extension Education Director said. Iowa State University Extension and Outreach – Montgomery County educational programming is a cooperative effort involving local citizens, Iowa State University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Extension council members are elected at large, and all voters in the county are eligible to vote for four candidates.

Candidates on this year’s ballot include:

• Bill Drey, Red Oak: a teacher in the Villisca Community School District and former program director for the Extension. He’s also a member of the Red Oak School board;
• Carroll Freeman, Red Oak: A current Montgomery County Council member who is rerunning to continue serving on the council and is also an employee of the Untied Farmers Mercantile Cooperative;
• Tim Kammerer, Stanton: employed at Johnson Controls and has three children involved in the 4-H program;
• Karen Klocke, Nodaway: also a returning council member who works at both the Villisca Community Schools and farms with her husband and has one child still involved in 4-H;
• Mike Olson, 1697 Ironwood Ave, Red Oak:  a local farmer with three children who have all been active in 4-H.

Council members whose terms expire this year are Carroll Freeman, Karen Klocke, Les Linquist and Roger Pendleton.  Carryover council members whose terms continue through the end of 2014 are Gayle Allensworth, Lori DeKay, Joe Jardon and Julie Wolfe.

Successful candidates will take office in January 2013. Extension council members make policy, programming and budget decisions for Montgomery County Extension and Outreach.

County councils contribute to a unique attribute of ISU Extension and Outreach – being present when needs arise and staying for the long haul. Council members and some 17,000 Iowa volunteers work with Extension and Outreach to increase the staying power. Through partnerships, they provide resources, research and education to assist Iowans.

ISU Extension and Outreach has 100 field offices, providing local access to extension programs in all 99 counties. For more information, visit www.extension.iastate.edu or contact Beth Beeson.