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From left, Winona County Auditor-Treasurer candidates John Eger, Gabe Vargas, and Chelsi Wilbright took part in a League of Women Voters forum on July 19.
John Eger speaks at the candidate forum.
Gabe Vargas responds to a question at the forum.
Chelsi Nahrgang Wilbright speaks during the candidate forum.
From left, Winona County Auditor-Treasurer candidates John Eger, Gabe Vargas, and Chelsi Wilbright took part in a League of Women Voters forum on July 19.
John Eger speaks at the candidate forum.
Gabe Vargas responds to a question at the forum.
Chelsi Nahrgang Wilbright speaks during the candidate forum.
On August 9, Winona County voters will have three choices for Winona County Auditor-Treasurer, a position charged with overseeing local elections, collecting taxes, stewarding county finances, and running the county’s License Center. Candidates John Eger, Gabe Vargas, and Chelsi Nahrgang Wilbright shared their backgrounds and views at a recent League of Women Voters (LWV) forum. Incumbent Auditor-Treasurer Sandra Suchla is not seeking reelection; the August primary will narrow the field of her potential successors to two candidates for the November general election.
Wilbright has worked under Suchla as a deputy auditor-treasurer since late 2020 and touted her experience with the department’s many duties: calculating taxes, reading and processing land records, investing county funds, handling liquor licenses and gambling permits, and administering elections and post-election reviews. Wilbright continued, “The auditor-treasurer position wears a lot of hats … and continuity is very important. I believe my competitors here are professional individuals, and they have great qualifications, but being in the Auditor-Treasurer’s Office currently, I can provide continuity.”
Wilbright has a bachelor’s degree in finance and a state certification in tax calculation. She serves in the Air Force Reserves, where she said she gained leadership experience, at one point acting as a program manager for 300 service members.
“In this job experience counts,” Eger said. “I have the experience and leadership skills to hit the ground running on day one. I have over 20 years experience in sales, management, customer service, training and personnel development. I have experience running departments with 3-15 direct reports.” Eger said he has worked as an adjunct professor of sales and marketing at Minnesota State College Southeast and as a training instructor at multiple companies. He expects to complete a master’s degree in education leadership at Winona State University this fall.
“I’m an outsider,” Eger said. “I don’t work for the county like my opponents … You must ask yourself, do you want someone who will carry on that current culture or do you want someone who will put a fresh pair of eyes on everything?” He continued, “I’ll look for ways to cut cost, eliminate waste and increase service, and I’ll begin applying for public and private grants to help ease the burden on the taxpayers.”
Vargas has worked for 10 years as a social worker in the county’s Health and Human Services Department and worked for Wisconsin health care organizations prior to that. “I, too, have also worked in managing complex situations in regard to performing audits in the health care field, whether that be for the public or the private sector,” he said. Vargas has volunteered as a Morrie Miller Foundation coach, a Winona Area Youth Hockey Association board member, and currently volunteers with the Touchdown Club for the Winona Senior High School football team.
“It’s important as we go forward that we vote for someone we believe in and support,” Vargas said. “I think, regardless of our work histories, we all come from different backgrounds. I think the jobs I’ve done over the years would transfer well to this department.”
Asked about his knowledge of election administration, Eger said, “I haven’t had much experience in managing or running any election; however, that doesn’t mean I won’t be able to pick it up quickly.”
“I also have very limited experience running any election,” Vargas acknowledged. However, he said, he has met with local township boards to ask about what help they need in running elections and said those relationships would help him better serve the public.
Wilbright said she has been involved in many areas of election administration: ordering ballots, processing absentee ballots, handling direct balloting, serving as an election judge, and taking part in post-election equipment reviews.
The candidates were also asked a few questions about their views on election integrity and accessibility.
Asked if they believed the 2020 election in Winona County was “fair and secure” all three said yes.
“I do believe it was fair,” Wilbright said, adding, “I do believe it was confusing to some.” As an example, she pointed out that, due to the pandemic, some of the rules for voting were changed that year, such as accepting absentee ballots up to seven days after the election.
“Yes, I believe the election was fair,” Vargas said. “I have not seen any information that would disregard the election results we’ve had here at the local level and at the state, the federal level.” He praised Suchla’s work to conduct the election appropriately and report the results as quickly as possible.
“Yes, I do. However, a lot of citizens that I’ve spoken to do not,” Eger said of whether the 2020 election was fair. “And so I think it is critical to make sure that due diligence is done and a review is done on what’s happened in the past to make sure that I would know what’s what … I believe [Suchla] has done a good job, but I think over the last three election cycles, there’s been many more questions from people of both parties.”
Asked how he would handle citizens’ concerns about election integrity, Vargas said, “I think we publish the information after it’s submitted and let the community members read it how they will.” He said he would answer citizens’ questions to the best of his ability. “In light of what’s currently going on, I don’t know if anyone will ever be happy with the answer we give them … but if we just show our work … the information will speak for itself,” he said.
“I would definitely begin involving more citizens in the process to see what happens from start to finish,” Eger said in response to the same question. “I think there is a lot of mystery involved in the process and a lot of people don’t see what happens behind the scenes.” Allowing more people to see the behind-the-scenes election work for themselves would help inspire faith in elections, he said.
“Obviously we receive concerns about election integrity in the office, and I think it all boils down to educating people,” Wilbright said. She continued, “The questions we get are usually appeased or solved by just explaining the process.” She added, “Voter confidence is important, and I think it starts with education.”
Asked about how they would promote inclusive elections, Vargas talked about using social media, local news outlets, and other media to share election information, and said he’d look to make information about how to vote as “easy and readily available” as possible.
“I believe right now things are fair and inclusive,” Eger said. Election day is the second Tuesday in November, he noted, adding, “I think it’s your civic duty to know this and participate.”
There may be some confusion among voters, Wilbright said. The county currently provides information on how to vote on its website, www.co.winona.mn.us, on the auditor-treasurer’s page, she noted. She said she would be open to ideas of how to improve it.
Asked about what improvements the License Center could benefit from, Vargas didn’t need much time to think. “A better parking lot,” he said. The county leases the License Center’s current location in the Winona Mall. Vargas continued, “I think they’ve done a heck of a job out there … I think they have ideas about how they could better improve their services, and I also think community members have expectations of getting things in a timely manner.”
“I’ve heard a lot of complaints from citizens, but I’m not sure this is[n’t] a case of perception versus reality,” Eger said. “A lot of people come there not prepared with everything they need …” Then they blame the License Center staff, he said. “I think we can utilize the website to prepare people,” he added.
Wilbright said the biggest complaint she has heard is that the License Center does not accept credit cards. Several years ago, the County Board decided against taking on the expense of processing card payments. Wilbright said she was unsure how the county could resolve that issue, but, she said, “I think they would deal with a few less angry people if they were able to do that.”
Finally, candidates were asked about whether the auditor-treasurer position should be appointed or elected going forward. Under state law, counties have the option to make the role a staff position, hired rather than elected. The County Board has been split on the idea in the past, with some board members arguing the technical expertise needed for the job makes it better suited to a staff role while others argued that an elected auditor-treasurer is an important part of local democracy. This spring, the board agreed to keep it as an elected position for now.
“ There are pros and cons to both sides,” Wilbright said. “… You need someone in the office that is qualified for the job, that has experience in the job, especially because we wear so many hats. So I can see where it could be a benefit to have an appointed position, but I also think the citizens can see who is qualified for that position and make the decision themselves.”
“After working for the county for 10 years, almost 11 years, I do not think they should move over to [county administration] choosing who runs the thing. I think I trust the community members and who they vote for and their choices. I think the election process is like a long interview. I think the community members are smart enough to ascertain who they think would best serve the community. Again, to see management have one more department under their wing, I don’t think [that] would help the community as a whole or the services you’re asking us to provide the community.”
Eger also opposed converting the position to an appointed one. “ I think it’s much too big a job. There’s too many responsibilities, and the people of the county have a right to have a direct say in who occupies that office,” he said.
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