Local business owner and Republican DeLynn Geiger announced Friday he filed as a candidate for the Kosciusko County Commissioners southern district race.
He will face incumbent Bob Conley in the May 8 primary election. Geiger filed Jan. 29.
The Churubusco native graduated from Grace College before starting Geiger Excavating in 1974. Today he owns Geiger Trenchless Solutions LLC, 3829 S. Ind. 15, Warsaw.
He said he believes this is a good point in his life to serve in county government and share his years of experience.
“Basically, there were a lot of calls from people who wanted me to run, and I told them I’d think about it,” Geiger said. “Then I said, ‘You know what? All the years of experience I have has actually has prepared me for this.’ What I do goes right along with the duties of a county commissioner.
“(People) have told me they didn’t feel like their voices were being heard, and they know that if I’m in there they will have a voice, and it’ll be a positive voice for them. That’s the reason I decided to run.”
Geiger said many of the same principles he’s applied to his business also apply to local government, specifically how people are treated.
“The way I operate my business is that I’ve always put my customer first, and I try to be positive for them. I look at the big picture. When I sit in on meetings I work with engineers to ask, ‘What’s the best thing for the people involved? Let’s try to bring people together on both sides and try to move forward.’
“People have told me, ‘Boy, I’m glad you’re running, because you’re running for the right reasons.’ With that, it’s not like I have an agenda. I’m doing this for the people of the southern district.”
Geiger recently was named as a board member for Kosciusko County Farm Bureau with the position of national legislative liaison and will travel to Washington, D.C. in March to represent the county in that role.
“It’s an opportunity to glean information about things regarding laws, taxes and whatever else is coming down the pike that would affect Kosciusko County,” he said. “That won’t take me away from the position I’m running for; most of the time those things will be handled through the Farm Bureau office in Fort Wayne.”
Geiger said while he’s running for the southern district seat, he wants to be a voice for all Kosciusko residents.
“The biggest misconception about the county commissioner race is that you need to live in the southern district to place your vote for me,” he said. “This is a countywide election so all registered voters in the county will have my name on their ballot and can select me as their next commissioner.”
Registration to vote in the primary election closes April 9.
