Iolan Craig Mentzer is seeking a seat on the Allen County Commission.
Mentzer, who farms northwest of Iola, filed for the seat this week with the County Clerk’s office.
He’s the first candidate to file for District 2, which covers much of the northern half of Allen County, including the communities of Gas, LaHarpe and Mildred.
Bill King holds the seat, but has not announced whether he will seek a full term. King was appointed in 2018 to fill the unexpired term of Tom Williams, who relinquished his seat to take a job with the Attorney General’s office in Topeka.
He’s served in elective offices in the past, on boards with the Le Roy Farmers Cooperative and the Natural Resources Conservation Service. He and wife Denise also serve as Republican Committee precinct chairpersons for Geneva Township.
“I don’t have any axes to grind,” Mentzer said in a telephone interview. “I just hope I can contribute something to the county.”
Mentzer is the third generation of his family to farm the same land in the northwestern regions of Allen County.
“I’d been kicking this idea around for a while,” he said. “I’d been encouraged before to run.”
Having son Nathan return home recently to assist on the farm has freed up Mentzer to focus on other ventures, calling his bid for a county commission seat “a new challenge.”
“Hopefully, I can do a good job,” he said.
The filing deadline for those seeking county offices is at noon June 1.
