By Brian Ojanpa
John Grimm and Al Bachel Jr. are vying for the District 1 Le Sueur County Board of Commissioners seat being vacated by Terry Hayes, who is not running for another term.
District 1 includes the cities of New Prague, Montgomery, and Heidelberg, and the townships of Lanesburgh and Montgomery.
The 67-year-old Grimm is a Wisconsin native who has lived in Le Sueur County since 1992 and has an eclectic background.
A divorced father of 12 grown children — 10 adopted, two biological — Grimm is a retired airline pilot who operates an assisted-living facility for mentally challenged people in his home. He also owns two businesses in Montgomery, a restaurant and Big Honza’s Museum of Unnatural History, a tongue-in-cheek tourist attraction playing off of the town’s Czech-immigrant influence.
The latter reflects a key reason for his decision to seek the commissioner position.
“Small communities in general, and particularly in this district, are dying, and they need some help in figuring out ways to stay alive,” Grimm said.
He thinks small-town retail is nearly extinct, and communities must come up with innovative means of attracting visitors — means that don’t require large infusions of tax dollars.
“The economy is the biggest thing right now. People are worried about losing jobs, so keeping taxes at a reasonable rate is very important.”
Grimm said he decided to seek office primarily because of Le Sueur County’s ongoing metamorphosis.
“The county is really in a crucial development period,with real challenges ahead,” he said in speaking about the county’s sharp contrasts over the past decade between urban growth on its north end and its static rural sectors elsewhere.
The 54-year-old Bachel, a pipefitter by trade, said he’s seeking the office because the timing is right.
“With my kids raised, I figure I have the time now,” said Bachel, who touts his 30 years in construction and maintenance work as vital assets he can bring to the commissioner position.
“If a road is being built, I’ll be out there every day checking on it.”
Bachel said he sees no urgent issues facing the county, other than the need to keep a rein on taxes.
The district he would serve saw a rush of housing development in recent years but has since been buffeted by dozens of foreclosures, most notably in an area that fell prey to a mortgage fraud conspiracy involving hundreds of homes in the New Prague area.
Bachel said he has been prepping himself for the duties of the office by getting a read on what constituents are concerned about.
“I went to a Farm Bureau meeting a month ago, and the people were concerned about feedlots. But if people move in next to one and bitch about it, whose fault is it?”
If elected, he said he also would help push for creation of “real jobs” that pay adequate wages.
Bachel was born in St. Paul and is married to Mary Kay, a New Prague schoolteacher.
Living in Eagan in 1990, he ran as a Republican for a Minnesota House seat and collected 48 percent of the vote in a losing cause.
“I didn’t know what I was doing, but it was a good education.”
