By KALEY LYON

klyon@dailynews.net

Dennis Pfannenstiel has represented District 2 on the Board of Ellis County Commissioners for more than seven years.

On Aug. 5, he'll be up for re-election, and facing another District 2 Democrat, Jason Dinges, in the primary.

Over the course of the last term, Pfannenstiel said many projects have begun -- and he'd like to see them through.

"The reason I decided to run for office again, I definitely think there are projects that have been started in my term of office, and I would definitely like to see those completed," he said. "Basically, one the Hadley Center, and the wind farm. Those two I would definitely like to see through."

Pfannenstiel, who has retired after working as co-owner of State Glass Co., also said many projects have been completed and improvements made over the course of the last term, such as improvements to the fairgrounds and the RPM Speedway, and remodeling the dispatch center.

HDN: What is your stance on the proposed Ellis County wind farm projects? What benefits or concerns do you foresee?

DP: "As far as my stance on the wind farm, I am very much in favor of it. I think it's a coming thing.

"It seems like, reading the local newspaper, almost everyone wants a wind farm. Just recently there was an article in The Hays Daily News again about counties in western Kansas forming a coalition to encourage or seek wind farms.

"And when I travel east to the Lincoln Smoky Hill wind farm, I think it's just a tremendous sight. I think it's just an asset to any county that can get them."

When the wind farm came before county commissioners last September, Pfannenstiel voted in favor of issuing the conditional use permit.

HDN: What are your thoughts on the current county-wide zoning process?

DP: "As far as county-wide zoning, basically I think we definitely need county-wide zoning. When I first ran for county commission eight years ago, I basically ran being opposed to zoning. All of the things that have transpired over the years changed my mind, and I think there's definitely a need for Ellis County's county-wide zoning and I think it can work.

"There's been some people opposed, and one of the things that they're saying, the only reason we implemented this was to get the wind farm in place, which is the complete opposite. Without county-wide zoning, this wind farm would probably be in operation already."

HDN: What are your thoughts on space needs issues, and of the proposed Hadley Center relocation?

DP: "I've been on the commission almost eight years now. And the space needs problem or concern surfaced at that time, and probably prior to my being on the county commission. I definitely think we need to make a move.

"I think the Hadley Center is a very good project, and yes, I believe some of our existing administrative offices are a bit overcrowded.

"But my reasoning for the move would be to make room for an additional courtroom. We have no jury rooms, we have no rooms at the courthouse at this time for attorney/client privileges.

"Many times we walk through the courthouse at meetings on Mondays, and we see prisoners being brought through the courthouse, which is not a safe environment."

HDN: How do you view relations between Ellis County and the communities within? Do you believe anything could be done to improve city/county relations?

DP: "I think over the past years, we've had a fairly good working relation with the City of Hays and also Victoria and Ellis, Schoenchen... If the need arises to do street maintenance, many times the city of Ellis or Victoria furnishes the materials, and we use our county road crew and equipment to do the actual working for the repairing of the streets.

"With the City of Hays, we've met basically semi-annually with the City of Hays in trying to get projects going which would benefit both the city and the county.

"As far as improvement we have just put in a new dispatch center, which has definitely helped the dispatching. Ellis County owns the dispatching equipment and we give the City of Hays the space, and the City of Hays employees are the ones that man the dispatch center.

"So I think we're working real well in that aspect."

HDN: With taxes on the rise from last year to this year, and local property values also increasing, how does this affect the local budget? What are your thoughts about the current finance formula?

DP: "With the increase of the price of oil, it's definitely going to put more money into our coffers. During budget sessions, many of the agencies who have presented their budget to us showed a very slight or null increase with the exception of the increase in salaries, or personal services.

"So all in all, I think by looking at the budget, I think we're not going to see the drastic increase that a lot of people are maybe expecting.

"With the increase in the oil... I would like to see the mill levy increase as little as possible."

Editor's note: This is the first of a nine-part series portraying candidates in the Aug. 5 primary election.