Voters in Lyon County can soon vote for an often overlooked community board, the Lyon County Soil and Water Conservation District Commissioner Board. Richard Reitsma is a retired library director who grew a passion for protecting the county’s resources. Reitsma says his passion for conservation sparked after the historic 2014 floods in Rock Rapids.
“What happened is I a number of years back, I was on what’s called the Green Space Committee here in Rock Rapids. It was after the flood of twenty fourteen. And the committee, I was the chair of the committee, and the committee had a job to, um, to find kinds of things to do in those places that had been flooded out. So that was kind of, um, the first public work I had done in the area of um, of helping soil and water issues.”
After spending the past two years attending monthly commission meetings as an observer, Reitsma decided to run for an active seat. With a background in communication, he hopes to focus on community outreach, water quality, and tree planting buffers.
He notes that while the committee operates quietly, its financial and environmental impact on the region is significant.
“I would encourage people to remember that, um, voting is really, really important. And, and even smaller committees like this committee, um, in a year, they distribute almost a million dollars, you know, that’s within the county. And so, you know, your vote affects the way money is distributed.”
Reitsma is one of three people running for the two open seats in the Lyon County Soil and Water Conservation District Commissioner Board. The other candidates running are Randy Warner and Dale Winkowitsch.
