Jack Sayers said Mills County residents wanted a change on their Board of Supervisors which is why he decided to run.
The 18-year-old was one of the two top vote getters among five candidates seeking two of the board’s three seats in the Nov. 5 election. Incumbent Lonnie Mayberry was the other winner.
Sayers will officially be sworn in as a supervisor on Jan. 2, 2025.
Sayers, a Republican from Malvern, cited a lack of common-sense conservative leadership on the board, as well as a distrust from county departments as two reasons for his decision.
“There’s a lot of people who wanted change, there’s a lack of representation for areas in the rural part of the county and I decided to run,” Sayers told The Nonpareil. “If people were really concerned about me being supervisor, I would not have won the June 4 primary, where I came in first. If they were concerned about me being supervisor, Lonnie and I wouldn’t have won roughly 70% of the vote this go around.”
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Though this is his first elected office, Sayers has experience on the political scene.
He spent two years working in the Iowa House of Representatives, most recently serving as the clerk for the chairman of the Iowa House Appropriations Committee. Additionally, he worked as a page for Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst in the United States Senate.
Sayers said he actually had no intention of running for the board, at least at this time. That is, until others urged him to do so.
”It was going to be some day down the road,” Sayers said on running for the board. “I never had the intention of running for office (now). I never did it to serve myself.”
Mills County Supervisor-elect Jack Sayers stands outside the board room. The 18-year-old from Malver says property taxes and public health funding are among his top priorities when begins serving on the board next January.
Sayers mentioned the support at a fundraiser caused him to have a change of heart.
“I went to a fundraiser and people asked me to run for the office and I was surprised,” he said. “I’m young, I haven’t been in office before and people understood that, but they asked me to because of a lack of leadership when it comes to the current board. I never planned on running, I was asked to run, and I was asked to run because people needed that change.”
Hard work and a vision that resonated with voters got him elected.
“I worked hard, I gave a common-sense conservative vision for the future of Mills County, at lease for the next four years, and people understood that and that why I got the votes,” Sayers said.
One of his priorities in office will deal with property taxes, he said.
“The last eight years having the same leadership on the board, property taxes have steadily risen,” he said. “All three of them campaigned on lowering property taxes, I campaigned on to do that we need to bring in economic development, we need to bring in industries into Mills County.”
The Public Health department needs to be well funded to continue doing its work, he added.
He’ll also seek more transparency and accountability from the board, Sayers said.
“I think it’s very important that everybody in Mills County feels they have a supervisor they can count on,” he said.
Sayers said there’ll probably be disagreements between him and the other board members on policies, but expressed confidence they’ll work well together.
“We will disagree, but at the same time we’re going to get along,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a bad thing that there’s going to be a little bit of contentious in government, there’s should be a little bit of yes or no, but hopefully we can find middle ground and work together at the end of the day.”
He also said it’s okay that some may have concerns about his young age.
“I’m not the only person in charge when it comes to the county in January,” he said. “It’s not just me, there’s three of us. It’s a board, a board is supposed to have different opinions, different backgrounds.”
Sayers said he represents a newer generation, a different demographic.
“People will understand once I take office and I start getting to work that I will work hard for the people of Mills County and that I mean what I say.”
Sayer’s resume also includes his selection as the first junior member of the Mills County Chamber of Commerce.
Stephanie Bowden, chamber board president, had many complimentary things to say about him. She described Sayers as a well-spoken young man who cares for his fellow county residents.
“I don’t think people should focus on his age, but rather what his objectives are to make this county better,” she said. “He wants everybody to work together for the greater good.”
Board President Richard Crouch added: “I have no problem working with him. I think he’ll be a good leader.”
Supervisor Carol Vinton, who was defeated for reelection in the spring primary and whose seat Sayers won, said he did campaign hard.
"He did a lot of work," she said.
Sayers, however, has much learning to do, especially now through January when he is sworn in, Vinton said.
"You've got to know the county inside and out," she said.
Vinton recalled after being first elected she read lots of books dealing with government and its different programs, as well as knowing about grant applications.
"There is so much you got to know," Vinton said. "It will take him awhile. I wish him well."
Sayers said last Thursday that he was planning to meet with officials with the Metropolitan Area Planning Agency whose service area includes Mills County later that day.
He added that, even before the primary, he met with county department heads about their operations and will continue to do so. He even plans to sit in for hours at the county's emergency dispatch office to learn more of its operation, Sayers said.
He also plans to attend a conference of statewide county officials, plus a trip to Washington, D.C., to visit with Iowa's congressional officials.
"I'm absolutely learning and putting in work," Sayers said.
Sayers is currently taking classes at Omaha’s Clarkson College studying community health with a minor in hospital administration.
