Dan Belshan said he wants to continue being “your voice on the county board,” as he seeks his fourth term as Freeborn County’s District 2 commissioner.

Belshan, 55, and his wife, Bonnie, reside in rural Glenville and just celebrated 30 years of marriage. They have two sons, John Van Beek and Matthew Belshan, and two grandchildren.

Belshan attended Austin Junior College (now Riverland Community College) for two years, receiving an associate’s degree, and has been farming full time in rural Glenville since 1974.

In his spare time, Belshan enjoys time relaxing at the family cabin, music and old cars.

Belshan won the open seat in the 1998 election and has served Freeborn County as the District 2 commissioner since January 1999. He is running unopposed in the 2010 election and prides himself on never missing a regular county board meeting since taking office.

In addition to serving as county commissioner, Belshan is active in the Workforce Development Inc. in Rochester and a member of the ARMER Radio Board.

“I’m running to make sure our tax money is spent wisely and responsibly,” he said.

Taxes and budget

Belshan recently voted against a proposed 6.9 percent tax levy increase because he believes in raising the levy only by the amount of inflation.

“Before we raise taxes, we need to look at the alternatives,” he said. “We are not doing everything we can possibly do.”

Belshan was instrumental in developing the Resource Sharing Committee, a joint venture between Albert Lea and Freeborn County. He believes the county government is heading in the right direction by sharing law enforcement and dispatch services, an information-technology person and emergency services management personnel with Albert Lea, and said he thinks more sharing should occur between the county and all of its cities to save tax dollars.

He said merging Freeborn County Public Health with the Freeborn County Department of Human Services would eliminate the need for two department heads and would, in turn, free up the cost of the salary of one administrator.

Belshan also proposes the merging of city and county planning and zoning departments, additionally saving administrative costs. “It could be worked out,” he said. “This is something that hasn’t been done yet.”

Belshan said the county needs to look at any kind of revenue streams and hopes to explore the expansion of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement contract.

“We’re getting a quarter million dollars a month with 100 prisoners,” he said.

While he said there are more jail costs with more prisoners, the additional revenue has allowed the county to double the payment on the government services building in 2010. “That would’ve never happened without this contract,” he said.

Privatizing the Freeborn County License Center, concentrating funding only to county core services, using staff instead of consultants and freezing county wages in tough economic times are just a few ideas Belshan is working on to keep county costs down.

“We have to look at new ways of operating,” he said.

Goals

Belshan would like to eliminate county credit cards.

“I suggest keeping one credit card for the county, to be used in administration,” he said. “I’ve called other counties and they don’t use them at all.”

He suggested the county offer reimbursement with receipts through central purchasing.

The elimination of meal reimbursement is another of Belshan’s goals. He said while not much money is allocated to this, he referred to a recent incident where a county department met in a private facility, rented equipment and charged meals. The total bill came to more than $300, an expense that he said could’ve been almost completely eliminated by simply holding the meeting in the Freeborn County Government Center.

“We had all that equipment that they rented in our building,” he said.

While he acknowledged there are meetings that must be attended by county officials out of the county, and even out of state, Belshan is a proponent of modern technology to keep government efficient.

“I’m a big believer in using modern technology versus sending people out of the county, with the Internet and video,” he said.

Closing hiring loopholes is another goal Belshan hopes to accomplish in his next term. He would stop all hiring of full-time county positions through temp services. “I’m a believer in equal opportunity employment if it’s taxpayer money being used to pay for these government positions,” he said.

One goal realized for Belshan is that the dollars allotted to gravel has been increased substantially in next year’s budget.

“The problem is we haven’t had enough quality gravel on roads,” he said.

Transparency

Belshan has always believed in openness in goverment. He spearheaded televised board meetings, both on TV and the Internet. He said the result has been positive, with meetings that are more professional and being able to hold people accountable to their word.

In a district comprised of nine townships and eight cities, Belshan prides himself on his accessibility to those who reside in his district. “I attend those township meetings and city meetings whenever I can and keep in close contact with them,” he said.

He also encourages his constituents to contact him on his e-mail and through his website, www.danbelshan.com.