Race for Buchanan County commissioner seat begins

By Chris Fortune

The race for a seat on the Buchanan County Commission pits a 15-year incumbent against a small business owner.

Democratic incumbent Ron Hook and Republican Everett Goddard Jr. are vying for the role of western district commissioner — the only contested race in the county.

Hook was born and raised in St. Joseph and was elected western district commissioner in 2009.

“I support doing what’s best for the community, whether it’s the farming communities out in rural Buchanan County or the city communities inside,” he said. “There’s no boundaries. I’ll work either side and just be an advocate for what’s best for this community.”

Hook’s objective is to identify and solve problems by listening to residents. Over the last 15 years, he has learned that there is a new task every day.

“My motto is, on a complaint, basically dealing with safety issues such as roads, stop signs, anything of that sort that provides an unsafe atmosphere for the community, we react as quick as possible — no later than 24 hours,” he said. “If we get a call late on a Friday night, myself, or my road supervisor, or somebody from the barn, we’ll go out and get it corrected before Monday.”

One of the largest projects Hook is working on is deciding whether to dredge Lake Contrary. Hook said the county is currently gathering information and ensuring it can acquire the resources to complete the project.

“We are waiting on permits right now from the Corps of Engineers,” he said. “We’re not going to take another step until we get that permit.”

Goddard was born and raised in Buchanan County and spent most of his life living on the south end of St. Joseph before becoming a father and moving to De Kalb.

Goddard owns Rusty Hook Bait and Tackle at 6731 U.S. Route 59 and works as a subcontractor for the Navy with Intercon, where he has worked for the last five years. Prior to Intercon, he worked at the western district barn, which influenced his decision to enter the race.

“I can take you to numerous roads out there and tell you and show you — I feel like safety hazards that, that our community shouldn’t have to deal with,” he said.

Goddard would like to reduce spending at the county level to address the road issues he has seen.

“I’d like to, you know, cut the budget a little bit, meaning all this wasteful stuff,” he said. “I’d like to reduce it and make that money better for our roads, so we can put more money in our roads just from wasteful spending.”

Goddard said he would support dredging Lake Contrary, but he wants to know where the money would come from and how it would impact Buchanan County residents.

“I support Lake Contrary if the money’s there — if the funding is there, but moving forward we have to have a plan,” he said. “If we’re going to do that, we need a plan from start to finish.”

The general election will take place on Nov. 5, 2024.