Strong, Burns prevail at ballot box

By Phil Cobb | November 8, 2016 |

Nodaway County North District Commissioner-elect Chris Burns

Come January, a new sheriff — Randy Strong — will pin on the badge as Nodaway County’s top uniformed law enforcement officer.

In the county’s only other contested race in Tuesday’s general election, Republican Chris Burns, a major-claims insurance adjuster and local businessman, was elected to the North District County Commission seat now held by Robert Westfall, who is retiring.

Burns defeated Democrat Merlin Atkins, a retired farmer perhaps best known for his volunteer work with the Nodaway County Ministry Center food pantry, 2,528 votes to 1,332.

Strong, a longtime Maryville Public Safety officer and detective now working as a deputy/investigator for the Holt County Sheriff’s Office, defeated the incumbent, Sheriff Darren White, who was seeking a third four-year term.

Running as a Republican, Strong received 5,049 votes countywide compared to 4,386 votes cast for White, a Democrat.

All vote tallies are unofficial until certified by the Nodaway County clerk’s office. Altogether 9,598 ballots were cast by Nodaway Countians in Tuesday’s election, or 75.08 percent of all registered voters.

The sheriff-elect’s win follows a primary victory in August, in which he handily defeated fellow Republican and Nodaway County Sheriff’s Deputy Jamie Vicker. White was unopposed on the August ballot.

Now 60, Strong retired after a 31-year career as a Maryville Public Safety police officer and investigator and subsequently worked as an investigation supervisor for the Missouri Department of Corrections before accepting his current position with Holt County.

During his law enforcement career, Strong has received numerous accolades, including Officer of the Year honors bestowed by the Center for Missing and Exploited Children in recognition of his role in the 2004 Bobbie Jo Stinnett murder and kidnapping case.

Following the Stinnet case, Strong was among the officers summoned to Washington, D.C., and congratulated personally by President George W. Bush.

He also received the Federal Law Enforcement of the Year award and was honored by the U.S. Attorney’s Office after participating in the investigation of the 1990 murder of Christine Elkins, which ended in the conviction of two suspects.

Strong’s professional associations include the Law Enforcement Coordinating Committee for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri. He is also a member of Maryville’s Host Lion’s Club and the Laura Street Baptist Church.

While still a Maryville detective, Strong served as a U.S. marshal’s deputy assigned to Task Force NITRO (the Northwest Missouri Interagency Team Response Operation), where he was assigned to duty as an undercover narcotics officer.

In electing Strong, voters heeded his repeated campaign claim that nearly 40 years of law enforcement experience with multiple agencies made him “the best candidate for sheriff.”

During the race, Strong criticized White for failing to work cooperatively with other law enforcement agencies, and said that, if elected, he would seek to build bridges between local, county, state, and federal jurisdictions.

On other fronts, he pledged to reactivate the Northwest Missouri Major Case Squad and the Child Abduction Response Team.

A 1974 graduate of Plattsburg High School, Strong attended Northwest Missouri State University. He and his wife, Vicky, have three grown children and have lived in Nodaway County for 42 years.

As for the North District commissioner-elect, Burns, 47, works as an independent contractor for Zurich Insurance and owns a pair of local businesses: Burny’s Upper Deck, a bar in downtown Maryville, and Motors & Cycles Sales on North Main Street.

He grew up in Ravenwood and has lived in Nodaway County for 42 years.

Though new to elective politics, Burns has served on the Maryville Planning and Zoning Commission for 11 years. He also sits on the St. Gregory Barbarigo Catholic Church finance committee and belongs to the local Elks Lodge and the Maryville Host Lions Club.

Active with youth sports, Burns coaches boys basketball at St. Gregory’s School, the Northwest Force 10U softball team, and the Northwest Hounds Bantam Football team.

A 1987 graduate of Northeast Nodaway High School, he attended Southwestern Community College in Creston, Iowa, where he played basketball and baseball. He was also a student at Northwest Missouri State University.

During the campaign, Burns said the biggest challenge facing Nodaway County from the commission’s perspective is economic development, and that he wants to work with local officials, Northwest Missouri State University, and state legislators to build a stronger workforce.

He also said his budgeting and management background will allow him to make sure there are “no wasted tax dollars” in the county budget.

Additionally, Burns will now seek to deliver on a pledge to make transportation a priority throughout Missouri’s fifth-largest county in terms of land area.

Comprising 900 square miles, Nodaway contains more bridges and miles of gravel road than virtually any similar political subdivision in Missouri. However, those roads are under the authority of 15 quasi-independent townships over which the commission has little control.

County transportation spending, therefore, is limited to repair and replacement of bridges and drainage tubes along with gravel subsidies used by townships to augment their own road tax revenue.

Nevertheless, Burns said during the campaign, finding dollars to keep roads and bridges in good repair makes “looking at the budget and learning the budget one of the most important things a commissioner can do.”

While most of the local election news this year revolved around the two contested county races, other offices were on the ballot as well, such as the South District commission seat reclaimed by three-term incumbent Robert Stiens, who was unopposed.

Remaining county officeholders to be sworn in next year following uncontested races include County Clerk Karen Leader, County Collector-Treasurer Marilyn Jenkins, County Assessor Rex Wallace, Public Administrator Diane Thomsen, and Coroner Vincent Shelby.