Ross Eveland has a simple reason for deciding to run for Story County Supervisor.
“I don’t believe in unopposed races,” Eveland said.
Eveland, whose work history includes substitute teaching, serving as umpire and referee for “a lot of high school sports” and working as a general manager at Love’s Travel Stop, said his life experiences and leadership experience make him a good candidate for the post.
“A good manager listens and makes decisions based on what’s best for the company and what’s best for the team,” Eveland said. “It’s time for the next generation, not in terms of young and old but new ideas, new faces.”
Eveland touched on several issues facing Story County, including the possibility of allowing data centers to be built once a moratorium on the practice expires early next year.
“I’m not anti-AI or anti-data center, I’m just anti-the way they do it right now,” Eveland said, citing “sweetheart deals” and tax abatements that have allowed data centers to move into other communities, in his view, without paying their share of the load. “It’s dirty business, the way I look at it. I’d rather give Cafe Diem a tax break than Facebook or Apple.”
Eveland also pointed to a lack of public support for data centers.
“I’ve yet to meet one person who said, ‘Please put a data center in,’” Eveland said. “If they’re going to put in a $100 million dollar facility, they need to pay their way, not the taxpayers. They should be coming in to relieve the burden on us, not the other way around.”
Eveland also noted Flock security cameras, which read license plates of passing vehicles, are collecting data that could be vulnerable to hackers or other security breaches. There are currently two in Story County managed by the county government, which will be up to taxpayers to maintain once the federal grant that paid for them has expired, Eveland said.
“I’ve also never heard anybody say, ‘Please give me more surveillance.’ Nobody wants to be watched,” Eveland said. “Next year it’ll be two more, then it’ll be 10.”
Eveland also noted local land use zoning ordinances, stating that while rules governing agricultural use in unincorporated areas may need to be re-examined, codes serve an important function overall.
“If my neighbor is going to build a house,” Eveland said, “I’d like to know it’s not going to fall down or catch fire.”
Child care is another important issue to Story County residents, Eveland said.
“I have children, and the cost of child care is outrageous,” he said. “So that’s definitely a project I’d like to work on.”
Eveland stressed the importance of working across party lines to get things done in Story County.
“I can’t just not talk to somebody because I don’t agree with them. There’s a hundred things on both platforms, and there’s no way one person can agree with everything on either one,” Eveland said. “We’re all neighbors. We all want what’s best for everybody.”
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