Shawn Bryant, Republican Candidate for Boone County Supervisor, May 19, 2026

Our guest on our program is Sean Bryant. He is seeking reelection to the Boone County Board of Supervisors. Sean, thanks for taking time to come and visit. Thank you for having me, Jim. Here we are seeking reelection this after, well, your first term getting done and going for a second, huh? Yes, sir. All right. Let's talk a little bit about it. First of all, retired from the guard and continued public service. Again, that's the way I'm looking at it. You'd like doing public service. Yeah, I spent overall 30 years in the military totally. You know, I spent, I started out in the army reserves. I went active duty. Then I got out of active duty, spent some time in the National Guard. Then I went full-time guard and ended up doing 30 years total and ended up retiring out of Boone here, full-time National Guard. Ended up really enjoying my career, did some time recruiting. Some of my schools were Boone, Madrette, Ogden, put a lot of great people in the National Guard and something I really enjoyed. During my time doing that, I found that I really enjoyed helping and public service. So I volunteered a lot when I became up here. You know, I volunteered for, you know, Nights on the Green. Sure. I volunteered for, I was a Boy Scout, Den Leader and all kinds of different things. I did search and rescue. What else did I do, goodness? There were a lot of things. Yeah, there was a lot of things. But the one thing you found was I liked Boone County. Yeah, I absolutely love Boone County. So very unique, beautiful. Again, have a place in Boone County and do farming. Yeah, yeah, I work for a gentleman here, PMB farms. So besides, you know, after I retired, of course, I got elected to County Supervisor and I found that I can't sit still. So I took a job with a local farmer and yeah, I really enjoy that as a hired hand. So keep busy with all of that. And plus all your boys are getting older and your wife likes to keep you away. Yes, she does. She's busy doing things. He says I talk too much. Well, there's that. But who knows? He got into that when you were recruiting. That was the thing. Yeah. Family likes it here. They're staying around Iowa. Yeah, absolutely. You know, I got one boy. He's a police officer here in town. Riley, he just got back from a deployment. Second son, he just got back from a deployment as well. He just got offered a job in Wauke as a police officer. He's at the Academy right now. I got one boy in high school in Ogden and another boy in elementary over there in Ogden and both boys graduated. The two older ones graduated from Ogden. So they keep you busy. They do. Oh, yeah. Now, the big thing is, yes, can you keep it as grandkids? I'm hoping. Yeah, I keep on telling them. Well, it's part of the family. Yeah, the family. Let's talk a little bit about your time as a supervisor. So when you first got elected, you kind of had some idea about what it was going to be. Once you get in there, what kind of learning curve for you? I thought I did. Yeah, you know, when I first got elected, I thought I knew what I was getting into. But I really didn't. You know, I thought it was going to be about, oh, it's going to be about helping people. And I'll prove some budgets. No, it was more it was more full time than I thought. I'm taking calls all day long, you know, meetings. Sometimes five days a week. There's there's times where I'm working seven days a week at the supervisor job. You know, I'll get a call from somebody about their road. And instead of passing it off, calling the county engineer, I will go out. I will inspect the road, take pictures, call the county engineer, then pass it off and say, hey, this is what I found. This is what's going on. And then I'll get back to him and say, hey, here's the problem. And this is what we're going to do about it. You know, you have to follow up. If you don't follow up with people, then it's it's no good. So I like to if someone gets serves a problem, I always try to follow up as as best I can. You know, there's been problems with dust and dust, you know, all you know, this drainage, drainage, dust, you know, wash out with roads. Bridges have been hit, different things like that. So there are things that can be done, but there are times I'm guessing, too, you can say this is not a problem that it's on private property or it's something, you know, you can't always satisfy. Yeah. But you can explain to them what the situation. Yeah. Unfortunately, not everything we can we can help with. There's there's been lots of times where we where we can't, but we can explain what we can and we cannot help with. You know, some of the things that we have been able to impact that I'm very thankful for when we when the state redid Highway 30 towards towards the Green County line from Ogden to the Green County line. One of the things I suggested to the county engineer was, hey, can we pay back towards like 50 feet or something towards the in the gravel? So the motorcycles can have, you know, we won't have the gravel coming out onto the sure the highway. And he said, funny, you should mention that because we already have that in the works. And it's funny that he's like, are you reading my mind? Because we already were doing that. So and now we're doing that with every road that we're going to pave, whether it's county doing it or with the state doing it going forward. Every road that we're going to do, we're going to pave back into the gravel so that gravel stays off the main main road. Keep it keep it out of the way. Yeah. Hazard. Yeah, it's a hazard. And it's part of our safety program, just like the traffic lights. When you have the four way, you notice that the intersections started to put some sort of the four ways up there with the flashers. So the let's talk about so the supervisor part of it. You get there, you know, all of a sudden you learn, OK, there are certain things we can do, certain things we can't do. And that's the hard part, because you you see things out there and say, you know, boy, we could really take care of this like in this case. But there are certain times certain things come up where you can't move forward on things or it takes more time. And I know some people get a little impatient. So those are some of the challenges. Yeah, definitely, definitely. You know, everyone, the thing that comes to mind is we only have so much money. Boone County is second has a second lowest levy rate, general levy rate overall in the whole state out of 99 counties. So second lowest levy rate out of 99 counties in our 24th or 25th in size of population. So we like to keep it low, keep the levy rate low. And in order to do that, we have to. Really go through the budget with a fine tooth comb and make sure we're spending our money exactly where it needs to go. You know, I believe in. Raises and and great things for our county workers. And I believe in great equipment, but we can't always get there right away. You know, we have to slowly get there. That way we can keep our levy rate low because people are struggling. We really are struggling. You look at the gas prices, you know, you look at the grocery prices. People can't afford these these prices out there and they can't afford to stay in their homes. So if we can help that by keeping a levy rate low, that's what we're going to do. You know, the levy rate, one thing, the actual tax asking from for Boone County is substantially lower than a lot of other counties. Yes. So a lot of people, of course, it's all about the property tax and now property tax reform concerned about what that's what kind of impact that'll have, because we we're only hearing the beginning of it. And it's going to take a little while to see how things are going to shake out on that. We're we're curious. Yeah. I'm, you know, put it at a two percent cap. Very curious how that's going to shake out. We're going to have to probably get creative on on some things. But I think we'll be in pretty good shape because we don't spend wildly. You know, we're pretty frugal with things. So I think we're going to be OK, but time will tell. Well, we'll see what next year brings. And, you know, we anticipated this anyway. So we made cuts as we saw fit. And we we went the max this year because we are anticipating what this next year would bring. I know one of the ways to offset, of course, is economic development and growth and expansion. But you have some reservations because basically we're an ag county. Yeah. And I know you you're cautious about and so are the other supervisors about just how much we're looking at where it's going to be, things like that. That's important to me. We are an ag county. We are a tourist attraction county, I believe. You know, we have ledges. We have Sweet Point. We have Don Williams. People come up from the city to visit and to camp and to participate in the races into the Central Iowa Expo, whether it be for Nights on the Green, whether it be for the. This week, the Farm Progress Show, Farm Progress Show. Thank you. I was looking for the word for anything. But we have designated areas that are for industrial growth. And those are the areas that the public voted on that these are the areas that we should put in industrialized things. So those are the areas that we're looking at. There has there have been has been talk, of course, about. All kinds of different things coming into town. Data centers, data centers. That's a big thing that's been talked about. So that is something that is not just going to pop in and place wherever. OK, that's going to have to go to a vote. That's going to have to be public driven, because I'm not going to. I'm not going to say, hey, this is going to go in your backyard, Jim, because it's going to generate millions of dollars for the county. I shouldn't have to decide that for you. That's going to have to go to a vote. I don't believe I believe that should go to a vote. I don't believe I should decide that for you. We've seen some large. And I know one of the things the board did was you took a look about where. What you have on code in your code to things like solar farms, right? Seen some pretty sizable ones located in some areas. And the question is, is do we go ahead with those? Or, you know, those kinds of things. Basically, what you guys did with your ordinance is give yourself a little more control on where some of that could be cited. Right. We looked at state code and then we made ours a little bit more restrictive just so we wouldn't have huge eyesores and things like that. Boone County is an ag county. It's rural and we want to keep it as such. We are a county of farmers. We are, like I said, a tourist county. And that's what I believe that our residents want. And that's what I'm going to fight to keep it as. So I know one of the things that you started to follow along more, all of a sudden found all of this environmental stuff, especially in the Beaver Creek, which by the way, he lives in the Beaver Creek watershed. I do. But some excellent opportunities to do things on water quality in those areas. And those are just things that you've kind of picked up and said, yeah, I'm a stickler, we can do better. Yeah, I'm a stickler for water quality. I did. I've kind of taken that on my own. So I've looked at cancer rates in the state of Iowa and how they've been rising. And this isn't a supervisor project. This is just my own project and how I can do things better. What I've done is I've looked at the data and the amount of land that the state manages along the waterways. It's owned by the Department of the Corps of Engineers. Yep. And it's managed by the DNR. And what what the DNR does is they lease it to farmers for row cropping, which is fine, but then they allow them to spray fertilizer, chemical, and then that runs off into the waterways. Nearest waterway, yeah. Yep. And I'm not saying that causes cancer, but it does get into the water. So why not create a buffer strip there or not row crop it? Or if they row crop it, why not not spray it or plant hay? I would love it if they not row crop it, plant it in hay or whatever, something different, and it would cost us no money, you know? You know, I wrote up a nice, a nice paper and I submitted to Mike Nagg and a couple other senators. And so we'll see where that goes. Here's my idea. Yep. And then I was I was the reaction was, oh, we could put bioreactors in these places. You know, they want to spend money on things. My idea was, hey, let's not spend any money on these and do nothing. Their idea was, hey, we could spend money on these things. Yeah. But all a different perspective. Yeah. But still bottom line was an effort to do some make some improvements in water quality. Yeah. And you know what? I did hear from the DNR and there are a couple of fields next year that they are going to not row crop. They're going to put in hay. Do some hay. Do some hay. So that's good. So I'm going to follow, keep on following up and keep on pushing for buffer zones and things like that along waterways. So do what you can. I'm trying. So yeah. That's one thing for supervisors. And when you went in, obviously supervisors also are trustees for drainage districts. Yes. And a lot of people, that's hard to figure out that separation, but there are certain things you have to do for those designated areas, the drainage districts. And sometimes they get a little challenging, especially when we get some heavy rain. And again, we are talking an ag area. So a lot of it's strained. Right. Right. Um, you know, there's been some challenging areas. Uh, one, one area in particular, I can think of is, uh, West of Boone here, there was a drainage district that the city and the county had a big problem area area over there by, um, Walters. Yep. 131. Yep. Um, so there ended up being a lawsuit over that, um, where the city had to do some improvements and, uh, spend hundreds of thousands of dollars of, of doing some improvements, uh, within a timeframe. Um, so I took, and this was before my time. Yeah. Um, so I was approached by the Senate city manager at the time, uh, Bill Scare, and he asked me if there's anything I could do. Uh, I went down there with Bolton and make our drainage engineers and looked at the area and said, what can we do? Do we have to do this work? Um, and he said, here's what you can do. Um, so he gave me a plan, uh, drew it up. I went to the city with this plan and, uh, the board of supervisors agreed and the city agreed and we came away with a resolution that costs, uh, little to nothing. Um, substantially less maintenance really is, uh, just maintenance, just ditch maintenance, ditch maintenance. Yep. Otherwise we were talking to substantial, uh, sanitary sewer line. Yes. Substantial. So now the city goes in there, they clean out the ditch, uh, the water keeps on flowing and the taxpayers and the drainage district benefit by not paying money. That's bottom line. It's being a good steward. And, uh, you know, that's what, that's what we're here for. We've had a couple of others, uh, around the county, uh, Madrid had been a perpetual issue and there's gracious. Yes. Yeah. Finally got that one resolved. Yeah. And you're going, that started a long time before you, but that's, uh, those little things like that, uh, it become very hard to do. And then you're working with communities at the same time. There was no flood last year. Yeah. We'll take that as long as we get it. Some of the other things, uh, what do you are looking at, uh, for things that are coming up here for the supervisors as we continue to go forward outside of the, let's see how the tax reform went to property tax reform. But, uh, you got some, uh, things looking that you're cut or down the road that you're looking at. So of course we're looking at, uh, some economic development opportunities. Um, and we are definitely, uh, taking a look at our landfill. Uh, we do have a cell nine, our, uh, opening it up soon. Um, we have our leachate, um, pipeline, uh, going in. The four Spain force main. Yep. Soon that's going to, uh, save us money in the long run where it's not going to allow us to haul that stuff over to the, um, um, water treatment centers, just pipe it in. We are going to, um, have to eventually turn our landfill into a transfer station. So continually saving money for that and, uh, seeing how that looks in the future. So that is always going to be in, in the planning and looking in the future for that we do have some bridge replacements, uh, coming up infrastructure is, is key. We have to look at infrastructure replacement for our bridges. And that's, that's key. We have the, the quilt bridge, um, coming up here in the next few years too. That looking at being fixed. So. Got a lot. There's a lot out there. And again, some of this, uh, having good department heads that are keeping updated on a lot of it. Yeah. Subminsally. So yeah. Our, you know, our county engineer is just, uh, doing a fantastic job is keeping us updating with its five year plan. Um, and it's, it's just amazing. So as part of the, uh, again, being in the courthouse, you got a lot of different offices there, uh, keeping everybody headed in the same direction. Also a challenge. Um, you know, I think we're pretty much on the same sheet of music. Most of the time, um, you know, our software, uh, seems to be headed in the right direction with everybody. Uh, there are a few departments that have, you know, different, uh, systems right now, but I think that is due to what works for them at the time. Um, as things develop, we'll probably all switch, um, to what, uh, something a little more conducive, yeah, conducive that works for everybody. But what works for, what works now for one department, um, is fantastic. It works for them. That may be harder for others, but, um, right now it's at what works, um, because it doesn't work, what the other systems didn't work for them and they couldn't get their jobs done. So, you know, what, what's happening is, is working great. So, uh, I think we're all moving forward with what we need. Primary election coming up in June. Yes. People want to find out about, uh, the campaign, want to visit with you about it. Uh, what's the best way to go about that? Outside is coming to a board meeting. Yeah. So, you know, uh, I do have, uh, you can just go to my regular Facebook page. Um, so due to, uh, campaign rules, you know, you had to just go to my regular Facebook page. I'm not going to do a, a, uh, uh, just Sean Bryant on, on Facebook, you know, find me, uh, I put stuff out there all the time. If you want to find about supervisor stuff and find out about meetings, it's Sean Bryant, Boone County supervisor. That's open to the public. And, uh, you can find me from there if you want to follow my, uh, campaign stuff. So, and when they see you around, stop and say hi. Yeah. Say hi, ask me questions. I'm, uh, I'm always available. If you want to contact me, my cell phone number is on the county website. Just find it and give me a call, send me a text. Sean Bryant, seeking the Republican nomination, uh, for the Boone County supervisor race. Thanks for joining us. Thank you, sir.