Curt Keyes seeks seat as district 4 commissioner

“As a commissioner, I would want to concentrate on representing the people of  district 4 first and Waseca county as a collective board,” states Curt Keyes, who has filed to be on the Waseca County ballot for the District 4 commissioner seat currently held by De Malterer, a board member since 2019. District 4 includes Janesville, Blooming Grove and Iosco townships, the city of Janesville, and part of Elysian.

 

Keyes told the Pioneer he made the decision to run for county commissioner about a year ago, and has been campaigning since registering for the office in May.

 

In addition to a more local focus, he suggests he might bring a fresh perspective to the District 4 office. “Sometimes it’s possible to get so involved in the bigger picture,” he observes, “that you lose focus on what’s happening right next door.” A fresh outlook, he goes on to say, might allow him to approach circumstances and procedures from an unexpected angle.

 

He says he would like to do what he can to encourage new businesses and suitable industries in the county. “They bring jobs,” he observes, “ and jobs bring economic benefits.”

 

A lifelong resident of Iosco township, Keyes graduated from Waseca High School in 1990 and went on to take part in a dairy science program offered at what was then the University of Minnesota Technical College in Waseca. The campus closed in 1992.

 

Curt helped his parents Dale and Goldie Keyes on their dairy farm until they retired and he took over its operation. He says he loves being a farmer, but after donating a kidney in 2012, he had to reduce his level of activity due to the donation so he stopped the dairy aspect of the farm in 2012.  He got a job at Waseca’s more southerly Kwik Trip store in 2014 and advanced to being assistant manager.  Since then, he has worked in numerous stores in the area as an assistant manager, a position he still holds.  He suggests that working at Kwik Trip has helped strengthen his skills with budgets and understanding how spending will affect the success of the store.  He goes on to say that, “as a commissioner, watching how tax dollars are spent is the best way to represent the taxpayers’ interests.”

 

Over time, Keyes has served on numerous leadership committees, including the Iosco township board, the county township board, County Extension, Waseca Area Rural Fire Protection District and the Dairy Board from the 1990s to 2010.

 

He says he ran a successful write-in campaign in 2012, and has served on the Iosco township board ever since. The position has had numerous rewards for him: he lists getting to know fellow area residents, coming to an always stronger understanding of the expectations and requirements of the position, and meeting the challenge of setting a budget and then staying within it. 

 

Based on what he has seen, Keyes admits the job of being a county commissioner extends well beyond presiding at board meetings twice a month. If elected, he says he will reduce the hours he works at Kwik Trip to meet the needs of the commissioner office; he states being a voice for all of district 4 will be his focus.