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Lee County government is a bloated dysfunctional mess that for far too long has been treated as a jobs program for the politically well connected.

Having two county seats in the modern age is absolutely absurd. Consolidate county government (Sheriff’s office, county shed obvious exceptions) at one location, the county offices in FM being the most centrally located and most logical. The departments need to live within their means just as the residents of the county are forced to do every month. Sell off excess property. The budget and county employees could be cut by 50% at minimum. Bring salaries down to level of similar jobs in the private sector including making government employees subject to the same insurance plans that everyone else in the private sector has been forced into.

This mess as been building for decades and it’s not going to be pleasant or easy to rein in and slash the bureaucracy, correct the mismanagement and root out the corruption that seems to be endemic to extreme SE Iowa, Lee County in particular.