Ryan Prince, left, and Jim Moyer are both running as Republicans for Kosciusko County surveyor in the primary election on Tuesday, May 7. They answered questions on Wednesday, April 24, as part of the Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce’s Candidate Forum at Warsaw City Hall. InkFreeNews photo by Leah Sander.

By Leah Sander
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — The public learned more about two candidates running for Kosciusko County surveyor on Wednesday, April 24.

That was one of the races previewed as part of the Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce’s Candidate Forum at Warsaw City Hall.

Jim Moyer and Ryan Prince, who are both running as Republicans in the Tuesday, May 7 primary, answered four questions posed by local media representatives, including InkFreeNews Editor Deb Patterson. They had 90 seconds to reply to each question.

The first question was: “Please introduce yourself and tell why you are running for office.”

Moyer noted he serves as assistant county surveyor.

“I’d like to step up in leadership position,” he said.

Moyer added he has more than 20 years of surveying experience.

“I have over 40 years (of) working experience in this community,” he said.

Moyer said he was born in Warsaw and graduated from Warsaw High School.

“I raised my family here in this community. I know a lot of people, and I want to serve them with all the duties and the responsibilities of the office,” he said.

Prince noted he’s a professional surveyor.

“I’m running for county surveyor because I care about the quality of surveying services in the county, and I believe that I have the skills and experience needed to lead the office,” he said.

The second question posed to Moyer and Prince was: “What do you believe are the skill sets needed to effectively manage the surveyor’s office?”

Prince said it was “to be a professional surveyor.”

“The majority of the skills that are needed to do that are required to be a surveyor, and I’m the only licensed surveyor running for this position,” he said. “I believe that has a very large effect on being able to effectively run the office.”

“It’s experience,” answered Moyer. “I’m 63 years old. I started out in the construction industry with my father. I continued it with service in the volunteer fire departments. I’ve been a township trustee, a county councilman. I’ve served on many different boards and organizations. All that has helped me to develop relationships with the people and the residents of Kosciusko County.”

“The surveyor’s office is very much out there with the people,” he continued. “Drainage projects are a huge part of what the surveyor does. It’s critical to have a good working relationship with not only the property owners, but the contractors who do the work. I have 20 years of experience in the excavating, contracting area, 20 years of working with different land surveyors … The people skills I think are some of the very important things.”

Moyer and Prince also answered the question: “What ideas or policies will you implement to continue the improvement process in the surveyor’s office for the good of the Kosciusko County taxpayers?”

Moyer said he “would begin by restructuring the office, reorganizing, prioritizing drainage work.”

“I will institute a new spray program to maintain our drainage ditches,” he added. “I will work with the contractors more closely to see that they know what is required of them when I send them out to do work. The drainage board needs more information concerning the decisions that they have to make. They’re the financial body of the drainage world in our county, so I will work very hard to provide better information to the drainage boards, so that they can make better decisions.”

“I believe that being a professional surveyor will help me to have a start from Day 1 in continuing the great work that the previous office has been able to continue for the past 64 years,” said Prince.

The last question the two answered was: “Why are you the best candidate for this position?”

“I’m the only professionally licensed surveyor, and the vast majority of this position requires a professional license to do the position,” said Prince.

Moyer said he was the best candidate due to “experience.”

“In the area of where you need a professional surveyor, I intend to hire as needed,” he said. “I feel it’s better for the taxpayers to hire a professional to take advantage of their technology, their training, their equipment as needed. The reminder of the time it’s administrative work. A license to do administrative work in the courthouse won’t be necessary.”

“I’m an excellent organizer,” Moyer said. “I have good people skills. I can do a much better job with all aspects by hiring as needed and continuing to serve the public in my capacity.”

People may view the livestream from the forum by going to https://bit.ly/koscandidateforum.