WATERLOO - A semiretired business consultant and longtime neighborhood activist has stepped up to fill the final Republican ballot slot in the race for the Black Hawk County Board of Supervisors.

Randy Herod, 67, of 111 Highland Blvd., Waterloo, was nominated by convention to be on the Nov. 4 general election ballot for one of three board seats up for grabs.

"I'm a Ron Paul Republican and as much of a fiscal conservative as you'll ever meet," said Herod, a past state chairman for the Libertarian Party of Iowa, who joined the GOP to serve as a member of Paul's "Campaign for Liberty" before the Iowa caucuses.

Born in Lansing, Mich., Herod moved to Black Hawk County in 1975, settling in Waterloo in 1981. He is a veteran of the U.S. Army and completed a year of college at Michigan State University before beginning a career in the manufacturing industry: working in the late '70s on the corporate staff of a large conglomerate; starting a company in the early '80s; and later working as an independent business consultant for a small group of private clients.

Herod has been active in Waterloo neighborhood associations for more than 15 years, first as a charter member of the Church Row Historic Neighborhood Association and as a board member of the Highland Neighborhood Association.

As a candidate for county office, Herod advocates fiscal responsibility, revising land use policies, supporting industrial development and rural road improvements.

"We should project out five to 10 years, both revenues and expenses, with the goal of reducing the debt load and see if taxes can't be reduced over that period," he said.

Herod said the land use plans for the rural areas should be revised to account for declines in family farms. Many small farmers need manufacturing jobs to help make ends meet, which could be accomplished by the county supporting industrial parks focused on the smaller communities currently lacking good industrial sites.

"The county should be involved in industrial development," he said.

Herod, who has two adult sons with his wife, Linda, has served on the Waterloo Housing Board of Appeals, Cable TV Commission and Cedar Bend Humane Society board in the past. He currently is a member of the Lou Henry Hoover Memorial Committee, Friends of the Waterloo Library, a charter member of Black Hawk Canine Training and a 32-year volunteer of Black Hawk County 4-H Club.

He joins incumbent Supervisor Scott Jordan, who was nominated in the June primary, and Andy Mullinex, who, like Herod, was nominated by county convention, as Republicans seeking the three supervisor positions up for election. The Democratic Party slate includes incumbent supervisors John Miller and Tom Little, along with candidate Michael Blackwell.

Contact Tim Jamison

at (319) 291-1577

or tim.jamison@wcfcourier.com.