Marty runs for County Co. spot

BROOKINGS — Sheriff Marty Stanwick’s “retirement” might turn out to be short-lived.

Stanwick, who did not run for re-election as Brookings County Sheriff this year after winning the job 7 times over the last 28 years, will run for a seat on the Brookings County Commission this fall.

“I considered running, and I’ve been encouraged by some residents of Brookings to do it,” Stanwick said. “And I thought, I have allmost 50 years in law enforcement, so I’ve worked with city and city and county government. I just feel that I can bring some knowledge to the table.”

Stanwick, who will run as an independent, said his experience would lead him toward a pragmatic approach to helping run the county.

“I think the Brookings County commission is doing a good job with our budget,” Stanwick said. “ Now, July 1, Senate Bill 96 goes into effect, the one half cent sales tax, and I agree that we should not increase sales tax.

“But I think our superintendent of highways does a good job with grants. I think that’s something we have to make sure we look at is grants and federal funding, especially for bridge projects and so forth,” Stanwick said. “If we do come into a shortfall in the future, I think we just have to come up with innovative ways to continue our services.”

Stanwick’s law enforcement background — 21 years with the city police force and 28 more years as the Sheriff — would never be far from mind.

“I really think we need to continue to support law enforcement — as well as our county fire departments,” he said. “We need to support all our county employees, frankly. We have a lot of good county employees, and we should always acknowledge that our employees do a good job.”

After spending the last 28 years with the county, Stanwick said it still isn’t uncommon for locals to not understand the differences and distinctions between the city and county governments — something he continuously tries to work on via outreach.

“What the county commission does, by statute is that they’re overseers of county services, and they manage the budget and they enact ordinances overseeing zoning, water management, sometimes fire management, and also they make sure the jail policies are followed,” he said.

City functions are under the discretion of the city council and funded by sales taxes inside the city. County business is handled by the county and funded by property taxes in the county.

Friction can arise when needs and responsibilities overlap — the city is part of the county, after all. But Stanwick said he’s mostly focused on areas where the two entities can team up to best serve all county residents.

“The county commission does a good job overseeing our county — we have good department heads, good elected officials, but our responsibility is to make sure that those services are maintained, and that would be my focus,” Stanwick said.

He mentioned mental health services — particularly at law enforcement referral — as an area where both entities needed to work closely together.

Stanwick will be one of five candidates running for three open spots on the Commission.

Incumbents Larry Jensen and Kelly VanderWal are each in the race as well along with two others: Allen Brutty and Michael Lambertus.

Stanwick said he still plans to spend more time with his wife, grown daughters and grand daughter, but felt like the more regular hours of a county commissioner would allow him to continue his passion for service in Brookings County.

“And I just hope that, you know, the last 28 years that Brookings County has trusted me to be their Sheriff, so I hope they will continue to trust me and vote for me for county commissioner in November.

Linehan is the Beacon’s managing editor and welcomes story tips and comments at BrookingsBeacon@@gmail.com