Election 2012: Lyon County Commissioners District IV

Current Occupation: I have owned and operated many businesses over the years, mostly in construction and agriculture. I have bought, developed, sold and rent properties.Contact Information: donsherryparsons@att.net Explain your background and how this qualifies you for the position you are seeking. I am a married 44-year resident of Lyon County with three children. I have my Bachelors from the University of Nevada, computers was my area of emphasis. My community Involvement has been church, parks and recreation, Cub scouts, organized youth sports, Fernley Depot and Fernley Volunteer Fire Department. I have been active in the community and county for years and as the owner of a construction company I have worked with most areas of government. I have spent many days and nights at our own County Commission meetings, town board meetings, and City Council meetings, promoting the best interests of my community and county. My husband and I have worked across the United States on many projects; this experience has given me the opportunity to interact with many cities and counties. Many cities and counties were well run and some not. I feel I have the best qualifications to make our county the most business-friendly. I will be looking out for the interests of Lyon County, be it water, land or any issue. I will listen to the citizens in our county and I will represent the wishes of the citizens. They know their areas best.What are top three issues facing the county, what should be done to resolve them.#1 Begin to take care of people again. The elderly and children services must receive part of the budget. #2 Budgeting in general, we need to be conservative. (We need to consider our future revenue and obligations and how it is handled,). We also need to work for federal money. We can work on grants. I have talked with our congressmen on how to get more federal money for our county. Sen. Heller said he will work to increase fees on BLM Land around our towns and cities. #3Jobs (We need to attract good businesses to Lyon County that is the best and fastest way to help us financially. Businesses are taxed, they hire employees who in turn buy houses in our county, house values go up and the residents spend money in the county). We need to become business-friendly, there are many ways without spending a lot. When my husband was on the Fernley town board in 2001, Nevada was the fastest-growing state, Lyon County was the fastest-growing county and Fernley the fastest-growing town. Today Lyon County is the third most economically stressed county in the United States. What has taken us from the best to the bottom? Last election I was warning the county of the economic problems we would face if we didn't keep our spending under control. The governors' numbers were falling drastically and both Yerington and Silver Springs wanted the jail. I could see if we built the jail in such a downturn it would leave us broke, cost us jobs, cost us county services and businesses and people in county would suffer. I said this knowing it might cost me votes but I felt it best for the county to have this information. My opponent went ahead with the project. He knew or should of known we were already carrying too much debt in the county, Fernley was just beginning to try to repay the mammoth debt my opponent left them with. We can do many things to begin to build Lyon County again. What this commission needs is someone with budget experience and common sense which I'll bring. Putting large amounts of money on the consent agenda when we're cutting health and human services by over $100,000 doesn't make sense. I will work with all the communities, entities and employees to make this our best county. Why should voters choose you over the other candidates? Could it get worse than it is now? Yes, we're broke but here is a seven-year record of out-of-control spending by my opponent. Debt FY 02-03 $16,643.765.00 Debt FY 03-04 $25,181,463.00Debt FY 04-05 $33,221,243.00 Debt FY 05-06 $42,908,960.00Debt FY 06-07 $94,374,042.00 Debt FY 07-08 $115,024,352.00Debt FY 08-09 $95,434,906.00 This is why I ran four years ago and these numbers are why I knew what would happen at the county level. There are multiple problems with debt and no money, it causes problems between entities. It causes problems between employees and the county and most important the citizens who need help can't get it. I will work on turning this around. Please vote for Sherry Parsons.

Joe Mortensen didn't reply to the Nevada Appeal's candidate survey.