Shoemaker draws on decades in county conservation in bid for supervisor seat
Mark Shoemaker spent more than 30 years with Pottawattamie County Conservation, about 26 of them as its executive director, and worked with every Board of Supervisors since 1997. Now he hopes to join one. Shoemaker is one of five candidates seeking three seats on the board in the Nov. 3 general election, along with Susan Miller, Jeff Jorgensen, Shawna Anderson and Dennis Gunderson. One seat is open because Supervisor Keith Jones, who was appointed to the board in December, is running for the Iowa House instead. Shoemaker said he began thinking about a run before he retired, though politics was never his favorite part of the job. He decided to enter the race after some county employees were let go, saying he wants county workers to be respected, listened to and given good direction from leadership. He said the board has functioned better in recent months, crediting Jones with bringing a calmer, more focused approach, but he believes it still needs “common sense and integrity.”
Shoemaker said campaigning is probably easier than serving. “Once you’re on the board, you actually have to make decisions and have to work together with the other four people on that board,” he said. He said his years at conservation, where he set budgets, trained employees and worked with departments such as secondary roads, showed him how the county operates and what it needs to succeed. He said conservation also taught him that little gets done without partners, and he believes the board must work closely with Council Bluffs, the smaller towns, townships and farmers.
Pottawattamie County is the second-largest county in Iowa by area, behind Kossuth County, and Shoemaker said that size brings more roads, roadsides and infrastructure to maintain. He said the county’s population has hovered around 93,000 since the 1990s, and he wants to see growth through industry and business that bring jobs, along with workforce housing that attracts families. He said growth must be planned with roads and other infrastructure in mind. He also said the county should see Omaha as an asset rather than a competitor. “They have a population,” he said. “We’d love for that population to come over and live in Council Bluffs and Pottawattamie County even if they do work in Omaha.”
Shoemaker said property taxes are the concern he hears most often from voters, and he expects state limits on local revenue growth to make budget sessions tight for supervisors. “I think people really want to see the money managed well,” he said. Water quality and water supply also come up regularly. He said supervisors have limited direct authority over water but can work with state agencies and local governments to find solutions. He pointed to an approach favored by Chad Graeve of Pottawattamie Conservation that looks at entire watersheds rather than individual problems. “If we don’t have water, we really can’t survive,” Shoemaker said.
Shoemaker said he has found the local race clean, with candidates focusing on their own experience rather than attacking one another, and that the recent candidate forum showed many of the candidates share similar ideas. He planned to knock on doors before Election Day, even with many residents already voting early, and has cast his own ballot early. “You can’t please everybody,” he said. “I know going into this campaign and then if elected, I know what to expect.”
Editor’s note: Shoemaker’s full interview is available on Pottawattamie County Routes on the Loess Hills Media YouTube channel. All five supervisor candidates were invited to interview for the series. Interviews with Susan Miller and Shawna Anderson are also available, and The CB Journal has published stories on both candidates. Jeff Jorgensen and Dennis Gunderson did not respond to the invitation.
