A few words for those who served their communities – Our view: Your experience, contributions are much appreciated

The numbers may not have come in their way, but the candidates who were not elected still have much to offer the community.
We won’t call them losers.
The community should be appreciative of the people who filed to run for elected office in Glencoe, the Glencoe-Silver Lake School District, McLeod County, other city and state offices. They offered their time, their service to try and make the community, the region and state better. In a time when too many people would rather offer nonsensical notions and unproven claims online, candidates for mayor, city council, school board, county board, state legislature and other offices put their suggestions and beliefs out for public consumption knowing they might be criticized.
They did it with the hope and belief they would help make their little corner of the world a better place.
Elected bodies like the city council long for public input. To have people attend a public meeting and offer suggestions, alternatives to accepted policies, even criticism gives elected folks a sense what they are doing is accepted or that people want something else. Too often, public hearings are a non-event even though the world is run by those who show up.
The service these folks offered should not be left to blow away in the breeze. Sure, the election didn’t go their way. Not everybody wins, that’s just the way it goes. But these folks have much to offer.
There are and will be vacancies on committees supporting the city council, school board, county and state advisory boards. We’d hope these folks would consider offering their service in an advisory capacity. Sure, the pay isn’t as great and the people in these capacities often toil in near-anonymity. They have a chance to research issues, take in public testimony and offer informed recommendations the elected body should strongly consider.
For those incumbents who were not selected to return to office, we thank you for your service. You have no doubt learned plenty about how government works on the local level, about how to take in the concerns from constituents and weigh them against competing concerns. We hope you will enjoy a gracious completion of your service and will offer your insight to successors.
We honor you for your willingness to serve and hope you will retain your concern for the community.

-jm