Since January of 2003, the same three men, all Republicans -- Dave Vermedahl, Ron Buch and Jason Sanders -- have served together on the Benton County Board of Supervisors. 

By the end of 2013, there will be three new supervisors. 

Vermedahl and Buch, both first elected in 2000, did not seek re-election to a fourth four-year term. Eight candidates have filed papers for the June 5 primary.

Now, Sanders, too, has announced his plan to leave office in 2013. He will remain a supervisor until sometime in the summer or fall of next year.

Since 2002, Sanders has been a youth pastor at Oak Grove Church. He and his family have decided to move to Ogden, Utah, in the summer or fall of 2013, to begin a college campus ministry and also begin a new church there. See the Sanders announcement on their family blog HERE.

"The plan is to begin ministry in Fall of 2013, and I believe Ogden, Utah, is out of my supervisor district, so I will have to resign  sometime before then," Sanders told Vinton Today. "Right now, we really don't know anymore than that."

Sanders won office to the District 1 seat (which includes the Urbana and Shellsburg areas) in 2002 by defeating then-incumbent Ed Sass. He also defeated Sass (and Duane Eldred) in 2006 and again in 2010. That year, Sanders had originally decided to not seek re-election but later organized a write-in campaign for the 2010 GOP primary when no other Republican candidates filed papers. 

Under Iowa law, replacing a supervisor who leaves before a term expires can either take place by appointment or special election. The person appointed would fill the vacancy until the end of Sanders' current term, which ends Dec. 31, 2014.

2012 candidates

Candidates for Benton  County  Supervisor this year on the June 5 primary ballot include:

District 2 (Vinton area): Democrats John Watson and Terry Hertle; and Republicans David Redlinger, Dick Meyer and Richard Primmer.

District 3 (Southern Benton  County): Democrats Donald Freese and John Long; and Republican Patrice Smith.