For more than 20 years, Jim Schmidt has served as a Lincoln County commissioner.
When he started, he was living outside of Lennox. Today he lives in Sioux Falls and serves what is now District 5. District 5 is made up of the Sioux Falls area from 57th Street south between Louise Avenue and Highway 11, including the precincts of 2-10, 2-11, 2-12, 2-13 and 1-11.
When he moved to Sioux Falls, he was looking for the city and the county to move forward with growth together.
“I’d been in Sioux Falls a long time and we’d always talked about how Lincoln County should be part of the whole growth area and that’s what motivated me, because as Sioux Falls moves south there was really no relationship between the city or the county,” he said. “We didn’t communicate and yet they had such mutual interests. That’s why I thought we should bring Lincoln County into the planning and make it part of the growth area.”
Schmidt has continued to run for county commissioner over the years because of the collaboration with Minnehaha County on the welfare department, human resources and city growth areas.
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