Just two weeks before the primary election, a candidate forums program was held at the Wellsville-Middletown High School cafeteria on Tuesday that featured Presiding Commissioner candidates Ryan Poston and Harry Cope and Circuit Clerk candidates Lacy Fischer and Morgan DeTienne.

All four talked about their campaign priorities and leadership experience during the one-hour program. Earl Burton was the moderator and Christine DeTienne, Spring Lynch and Richard Wilson made up the question-and-answer panel. 

Poston, a 1995 MCHS graduate, has been the county’s presiding commissioner since 2011. That year, he defeated Charlie Korman in the primary election and Gene Whyte in the general election.

“Ive been county commissioner for 15 years now,” Poston said. “Do we have some growth coming? Yes, we do. I don’t call it exponential growth. It’s slow and steady growing like we need because it’s not going to overload your population. What I see coming in my vision is these data centers are going to get built and there is going to be money coming.”

A Truxton resident, Cope works as a fourth-generational farmer at Cope Grass Farm. He graduated from University of Missouri-Columbia in 1984. His family has been farming near Truxton for 150 years. Three years ago, the farm received the Leopold Conservation Award. He graduated from MCHS.

“I’m running for this position because basically I want the results,” Cope said. “I believe we need to have a little bit more truth and transparency from most of our commissioners. That seems to be an issue we have a problem with. It’s one of those things that I believe in asking questions and getting questions asked to me. If I don’t know the answer, I’ll tell you I don’t know.”

Fischer, who graduated from MCHS in 2000, has worked as an office manager/clerk at the Montgomery County Courthouse for 19 years.

“During that time, I spent countless hours in the courtroom, assisting court dockets, jury trials and court preparations, budgets, personnel management and office administration,” Fischer said. “In 2015, I was promoted to office manager. The best part of my job is having the opportunity to work alongside so many outstanding people within the courthouse over the past 19 years. The knowledge, support and experiences we shared have played a role in my career and helped me grow both professionally and personally.” 

DeTienne, a 2013 MCHS graduate, works at the circuit clerk’s office and holds a Bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Lindenwood University.

“Professionally, I believe I have the experience and qualifications to step into the role of circuit clerk and serve our county from day one,” DeTienne said. “I hold a Bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Lindenwood University and I spent almost three years working in the circuit clerk’s office. During that time, I gained hands-on experience with the daily responsibilities of the office from maintaining court records and assisting the public to working alongside judges, attorneys, law enforcement, probation and parole, the prosecuting attorney’s office, the public defender’s office and many other agencies that help our court system function.”

The questions were directed to only Poston and Cope. Each candidate was asked nine questions and had two minutes to respond to each question. Both candidates gave their final reflections

Editor’s note: A print version of this story will be published in the July 22 edition of the Montgomery Standard.