Broadband, affordable housing and public safety are some of the top issues in the York County commissioners race this year.

Four candidates − two incumbents and two newcomers − are running for the three seats on the board in the Nov. 7 election.

York County President Commissioner Julie Wheeler, a Republican, is seeking a second term in office. Wheeler, a Fortune 100 business leader, says a successful commissioner needs to have executive business experience, and that's what she brings to the job.

Vice President Commissioner Doug Hoke, a Democrat, is running for his fifth term in office. He says he has enjoyed his years working as a commissioner, and he's a steady voice in York County government. He'd like to continue that.

Newcomer Keena Minifield, a Democrat, says she brings a different perspective to the race. She experienced poverty and homelessness with her two children, seeking help from state assistance and nonprofits during that time. She now owns her own home. If elected, she would be the first person of color to serve on the board.

Newcomer Scott Burford, a Republican, points to his experience as Chief Clerk/Chief of Staff in the Dauphin County Commissioners Office. He says he and Wheeler approach county government very similarly. He's data driven. He likes to measure performance and challenge himself. He thinks that works well and compliments Wheeler's skill sets.

York County Commissioner Ron Smith, a Republican, ran in the primary but lost to Burford.

Voters will select two candidates on the ballot. The three candidates who receive the highest number of votes win.

The candidates spoke about why they are seeking office and the issues the county faces. Their answers have been lightly edited:

Scott Burford

Age: 54

Occupation: Chief Clerk/Chief of Staff for the Dauphin County Commissioners

Education: Bachelor's degree in Health Services Administration from West Virginia Tech and a master's degree in Health Services Administration from Penn State

Experience: 30-plus years of experience in the public and private sectors. Worked for 15 years as a nursing home administrator in the private sector; hired in 2004 as the Dauphin County nursing home administrator, later became deputy chief clerk before moving into current role; chairman of the board of auditors in Springettsbury Township; serves on the board of governors for the Shriners Children's hospital in Philadelphia.

Campaign website: Scott Burford for York County Commissioner

What are the top three issues facing York County, and how would you address them?

Public safety is something that is and should be of high priority to a county commissioner. When I think public safety, I think collectively both with not only the county's responsibility for communications like the 911 call center and emergency management, but also those other entities that the county works collaboratively with like our first responders. Many of our fire departments are built around volunteerism, and volunteerism is declining. Although the county commissioners by definition don't have direct jurisdiction over first responders, I think we owe it to our residents to do what we can do as county commissioners to bolster that, to shore up public safety.

The other piece of that is working with our police departments. Many of the issues county commissioners and the first responders, in particular the police departments, face is mental health. One of the things that county commissioners do have jurisdiction over is human services, so what they can bring to the table and what I would plan to bring to the table is assisting the police departments with providing them with other skills, other personnel such as co-responders to help them in their efforts to keep our communities safe. What I have done in Dauphin County is work closely with the human service agencies to train and secure responders to work closely with the police departments, and I know York County has done the same. And I would like to build on that and continue to bring to York County some of my experiences to help them as well.

The other priority is human services. My experience in Dauphin County − what I think every county is facing and it's not just York County − is opioid addiction. In Dauphin County, my experiences have been using those opioid settlement dollars to create grant programs to build capacity within the community to address not only education but also prevention and treatment. I would bring those experiences to York. York has similar programs and they have a great program that was started years ago with the opioid collaborative, and I've already attended a meeting or two of that group. And I would like to learn more about the uniqueness of York County, but also bring some of the skills that I've garnered in Dauphin County and apply them to York.

What do you want to accomplish as a newcomer?

One of the things that I want to accomplish in the first few days is I want to review the county budget. I also would take a comprehensive look at the annual budget and also the long-term obligations that the county has and work with the staff on: what does that forecast look like five, 10, 15 years down the road so that we can better plan, better prepare for tomorrow.

The other thing that I plan to do first few days is to build relationships. I have learned in my short life that it takes a team to accomplish things. I would like first to build relationships with the staff and also I would like to build relationships with the business community and the provider community that we have. Although I have worked in Dauphin County, I've observed the work in York County, and we have a lot of good things going on and I would like to continue that. The first thing is to build those relationships because you need relationships as a county commissioner to make things happen.

Why are you the best candidate for the job?

I feel that I'm the best candidate for the job because not only am I academically prepared, I have in excess of 30 years of professional, executive-level experience. I have worked in the commissioner's office for a number of years and I bring a depth of knowledge that, in my humble opinion, may be arguably the most qualified first-time candidate in a long time because of the depth of knowledge that I bring to the table. I believe that the recipe for success is efficiency and teamwork. I pride myself on being able to work with others and that is what I believe would separate me from my competitors: professional experience, the business acumen and the soft skills.

Doug Hoke

Age: 73

Occupation: Vice President Commissioner

Education: Bachelor's degree in history and political science from Culver-Stockton College in Canton, Missouri

Experience: Part owner of business, Tee to Green Grounds Management Company; volunteer mentor for Big Brothers/Big Sisters of York, serves on several community boards

Campaign Facebook page: Doug Hoke for County Commissioner

What are the top three issues facing York County, and how would you address them?

I have a public finance background. Before I became a county commissioner, I worked for an authority that issued tax-exempt debt, and it has always been a part of my thinking process of being a county commissioner. One of the biggest things I always am doing is keeping an eye on the county budget. I always try to use the philosophy that we try to maintain or better our services without hurting our taxpayers. Every year we go through the budget process. We're in that right now for 2024, and we're having some schedule meetings with department heads and row officers. I've always asked our directors and our row officers: try to think out of the box of ways we can save money. Obviously, personnel costs are the biggest issue and we have to retain and maintain jobs. But we're always looking at ways to streamline, efficiencies and things like that. One of the biggest things for me is controlling the county budget and how it affects taxpayers.

I want to follow through with the expansion of our broadband service to the rural areas of our county. One of my biggest assets as being a county commissioner is my engagement with the community. I have traveled from Dillsburg to Delta from Hanover to Wrightsville and everywhere in between, and I don't go out to talk to the people. I go out to listen to the people. A lot of times in the rural communities, they talk about broadband service and the availability of it whether it's with the farming community or local businesses. We've started an initiative with some federal money and some state money over the last couple years, but I'd really like to follow through on that. I know we have a task force, and I think they're doing a great job. It's important to get the work done and get the connectivity to a lot of the people in our community.

When you're involved in a big organization like county government − I think we have like 2,100 positions − I always try to strive to recruit the best possible people to fill those jobs and actually try to retain quality people that are in county government. We're only as good as the people that provide the services that the county gives to the taxpayers of York County. I always try to make sure that when we're interviewing people for different types of jobs that we have the qualifications, background, the education, the professional ability to step into a job and maintain the quality services that we have before.

I've been a strong advocate for getting resources from the state and federal government, which obviously helps York County.

What do you still want to accomplish as an incumbent?

A lot of people ask me your rationale for running again. I think my honesty, I think my hard work, and I think I've proven over the years like I don't take vacation, don't miss work. I think I've been fiscally responsible and I used the word responsible because I look at every penny we spend and try to make sure it's providing value to the taxpayer. And my engagement with the community − and I want to keep up that because I think that people realize that I come out and I listen to people and come back to the board and talk to my fellow commissioners and our department heads and say what issues are important to the people of York County.

Why are you the best candidate for the job?

I talked about my years of service. I think my institutional knowledge of county government has obviously expanded with the history that I've been in office. I think my record, if anybody looks at it, will prove that I've been very responsible, very considerate. I've always asked people within the community for their opinions on different issues and things that we're discussing here in York County government. I would ask people to look at my record. I always say to people I hope I've earned your vote over the years that you've known me in public office.

Keena Minifield

Age: 34

Occupation: An advocate and a master of public policy and administration candidate

Education: Associate's degree in social science from Harrisburg Area Community College and a bachelor's degree in political science from York College

Experience: Formerly worked for the Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania; interned with the United Way of York County, interned with the York County Planning Commission in the transportation department, formerly volunteered with York Habitat for Humanity

Campaign Facebook page: Keena Minifield for York County Commissioner

What are the top three issues facing York County, and how would you address them?

The reasons that I'm running are because I would like to see affordable housing worked on a little bit more and create ways with other stakeholders or with other developers and possibly even work with housing organizations around the state on how we could obtain more funding for affordable housing. That would include mixed development housing where you have different incomes living together in one complex. I would really like to see an emphasis on fixing the rundown housing around the county and getting people into those. I would really like home ownership as well. I think that's the goal that most people want to accomplish is to own their own property.

I would like to see more support for nonprofits in the county. These organizations who are doing really great things for the people in the county. I've gotten help from the food bank. I've received help from the Salvation Army. A lot of those nonprofits don't have a lot of funding, or they run out of funding to help individuals. I would like to see if there is a way that we could help support them better. They're working with people who live in poverty on a day-to-day basis, and I would like to see more people lift themselves up. I think everybody needs their basic needs met. I think that nonprofits play a huge role in helping individuals do that.

Lastly is government transparency. As somebody who's running for office, people are really surprised to see somebody knocking on their door introducing themselves or going to these events where usually they don't see any elected official or anybody who kind of has interest or cares about the events that are going on. I really think the commissioners should be out and introducing themselves to people, asking questions, asking people what issues are they having, or what are some good things about the county. I've had plenty of those while I've been on the campaign trail. Government transparency is really important to me − showing up for these events and showing up for these groups of people who feel underrepresented. I would like to do either like a bi-weekly or a monthly newsletter from the commissioners' office informing people of what's going on.

That goes along with the other issue of mine: voter education. York County has on off-election years really low voter turnout, and I would like to see more people educated and informed about what's going on in their community. I really want to get people confident about going out to vote.

What do you hope to accomplish as a newcomer?

I would like to see if the county has a grant writer and if not, get a grant writer in and see if we can get some some new and different funding for the county. I would like to talk to school districts to see if we could include a voter education curriculum for seniors, getting them informed and educated about voting.

I would like to look into and the funding aspect for the possibility of a countywide health department with a possible combination of the York City Bureau of Health. It's been an issue for about a couple of years now since COVID. I'd also like to look into possibly expanding the York City Human Relations Commission to become a countywide commission.

I'd also like to check on the morale of the county employees who make the county run. I would like to see the elections office at community events with just like a table or something with information about voting.

I'm hoping to see what I can do about keeping taxes low and keeping senior citizens in their homes.

Why are you the best candidate for the job?

I'm a people advocate. I honestly and truly care about the success of every person. I've experienced a lot of things that the other candidates have not and bring that advocacy and human services side.

I feel like I could get some things accomplished even though I am a newcomer and don't have any government experience. I do bring that different perspective that really makes me stand out as as a candidate.

Julie Wheeler

Age: 57

Occupation: President County Commissioner

Education: Bachelor's degree in biology from Randolph-Macon Woman's College; graduate of the Jack Welch Learning Institute and the Anne Anstine Institute for Excellence in Public Service.

Experience: Fortune 100 business leader with 30-plus years of experience in industrial and medical business sectors. Formerly served as general manager of a medical device business at General Electric. Serves as treasurer of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania; Serves on the technology and telecommunications committee of the National Association of Counties.

Campaign Facebook page: Julie Wheeler for York County Commissioner

What are the top three issues facing York County, and how would you address them?

My top three priorities will continue to be similar to what I campaigned on in 2019: economic growth, public safety and human services.

I've been a big champion for providing Internet for all in our community. I will continue to champion that effort alongside the Broadband Task Force. When we talk about Internet for all, gone are the days of just surfing the web. I think we saw firsthand the need to have Internet connectivity as we navigated the pandemic. It really touches every facet of our life from healthcare to our job to education.

When we look at public safety, my view is that it's holistic. Certainly 911 operations are a piece of that, but public safety encompasses our volunteer firefighters, our law enforcement, when we look at things around the opioid epidemic and public safety, and keeping our community safe. Public safety, in my mind, it's larger than just 911. It's really a holistic view on how we can provide a safe community.

We need to continue to work with Children Youth and Families. York County is not unique in the fact that we struggle to have a full complement of social workers. That's something the county needs to continue to focus on as well as mental health. I think we've all seen that mental health has taken a toll on our community. I would continue to champion efforts around mental health. I co-chair the Stepping Up Initiative. I'm an advisory board member for CARD, which is Community Action for a Recovery Diversion. I'm committed to work alongside law enforcement in dealing with some of the most vulnerable residents who have behavioral challenges. I think we look at the co-responder model that was launched as a result of the work the Stepping Up Initiative did. I think it's continuing to look at innovative approaches like that in our community, supporting the wellness treatment courts, our county forensic team, our drug task force. All those things tie into public safety and will be continue to be a priority for me.

The York County Economic Alliance has done a countywide housing study. Phase One is done. I sit on that board. One of the things that I found very interesting was the statistic that 45% of our current housing was built before 1969. We've got a lot of work around housing and making sure housing is available whether it's someone who wants to buy a house, someone who wants to live in an apartment, or the resident who we need to find affordable housing for. I'm excited to continue to work with the Economic Alliance to ensure actions are identified to address some of the root causes that came out of this housing study.

She added her commitment to ensuring "our veterans get the support and assistance they need."

What do you still want to accomplish as an incumbent?

I would say that continuing to operationalize our strategic plan and executing on that so York County government can continue to run efficiently and effectively. I think that's really important that we have that plan in place. So continuing to do that to benefit our employees and also benefit the community. Continuing to move forward and working with a Broadband Task Force to close the Internet connectivity issues we have in our community; continuing to focus on our firefighters, our law enforcement − those folks that are on the front line and providing public safety. It's just continuing to do the things that I started in my first term.

Why are you the best candidate for the job?

I built my life and career on the principles of physical stewardship, community service, and accountability. Working at the highest levels of business, I've developed strategic planning skills, business development skills and operational leadership skills, and I believe I've demonstrated the ability to translate those skills and principles into action over the last four years. And having been in office almost four years, I can unequivocally state that a successful commissioner needs to have executive business experience, and that's what I bring.

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This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: York County commissioner candidates: 4 seeking 3 seats on the board