Another Republican candidate has thrown his hat into the ring to run for the Cass County Board of Supervisors in District 3. Atlantic At-Large City Councilman Dana Halder announced his intentions to run for the seat being vacated by current District 3 Supervisor Mark Wedemeyer, who has decided not to run for re-election during the June 5th Primary. He’ll face a challenge from fellow Republican John P. Hartkopf for the seat.

Halder spoke with the media following Wednesday night’s City Council meeting. He said he’d considered running for the Board of Supervisors as an option, in the past. “I’m to the point where I’m ready to kind of step back in my current job, and I felt like this would be a good fit for me.”

Dana Halder (City of Atlantic photo)

Halder has worked for the past 24-years as the Meat Department Manager at Fareway, in Atlantic. He’s been with the company for 38-years. He’s also served on the City Council for more than eight-years. That experience he says, has left him “With a good feeling for what’s going on, and I think there’s a lot of great things that the County’s doing [but], obviously, there’s always room for improvement.” He added that if Wedemeyer had decided to run for re-election, he wouldn’t be running for the Board of Supervisors, but that now is a good time for him to step in and make some changes to the face of that Board, and to his own life, such as cutting back on the number of hours he works at the grocery store, which sometimes amounts to 65-to 70-hours per week.

He explained some of the things he’d like to see includes more communication between the County and the Cities, and knowing what the expectations are of each entity. “I think a person can do the job if he’s willing to do the research and cover the situations that come about.”

Halder also thinks that in the time he’s been on the City Council, he’s done a good job, and that “We’ve done a lot of things to increase the look of Atlantic, and I just want to continue on that path.” Halder has served on the Chamber Board of Directors, he’s a member of the Knights of Columbus, a member of the Lions Club and has served on their Board over the years.