A current member of the Pottawatomie County Planning Board is looking to join the expanded Pottawatomie County Commission.
Judd McCormack is running for the newly created 4th district on the commission which encompasses St. George. He had previously served on the St. George City Commission.
McCormack said he favored the expansion of the county commission when it was voted on back in 2022.
“I like the idea of five people being involved,” he said. “It takes a lot more cooperation and makes the commission come to a consensus on more issues. With three people, I felt it allowed two people to basically gang up and push a personal agenda.”
In regards to the new planning board map, McCormack said he supported the compromise made on how the map would be drawn.
“I think it was a good compromise,” he said. “The compromise we came up with allows for the county commissioner to pick one, one pick from the land areas and one at large. It allows the commissioners to continue to make their pick while also still recognizing land area and not necessarily just a voting pool.”
McCormack says he supports alternative energy sources and solar in some circumstances, although he opposes large solar farms.
“I’m more in favor of a solar canopy,” he said. “I’m in favor of solar too, but I think large solar farms should be out of the question.”
Unlike most of the candidates for the commission, McCormack is running as an independent, one of two candidates to running as independents in the election. Amanda Worden is the other independent, also running in the 4th district. This means McCormack automatically advances to the Nov. 5 general election ballot.
McCormack says he wants to bring his independent record and ability to be a consensus builder to the commission.
“Until you’ve been in a position of power where you know not everyone’s going to like your decision,” he said. “I don’t think you fully understand how it really works. I believe my experience of working in St. George on the city commission and on the planning board gives me that edge.”
