Well, that was nice...

Our local paper ran this article after my retirement. Since my last official communication as a commissioner was reading a forwarded email that ended with the statement as to what a relief it was to see me out of office, this cheered me up no end.

Olson Leaves Space For New Ideas After 20 Years On BSCB

By Dillon Dwyer

Despite self-imposed claims of being uninterested and not very good at politics yet having an interest in getting things done, Brent Olson served for 20 years on the Big Stone County Board of Commissioners until the end of his most recent term in December 2024. Throughout his professional life, Olson also served on numerous other boards of directors and volunteered his time to various groups and organizations.

With his roots firmly planted in Big Stone County, Olson’s great-grand- parents homesteaded the parcel of land that he calls home in Otrey Township. “I’ve lived here my whole life except for a couple of years away at school,” he highlighted. “I decided I was going to live in this particular spot when I was about 13 - it was abandoned at the time, but I thought I could invent a life here. My wife and I loved raising our chil- dren with horses, goats, kittens, and dogs. Now, two of our children and all our grandchildren live within an hour’s drive, and we enjoy the next generation just as much. My family has been here since 1880, so we have a lot of vested interest.”

Having built a sod-roofed writer’s shack at the edge of a pond just out of reach of his house’s wifi signal and complete with a comfy wood-burning stove, Olson has no shortage of ideas or plans for what to do with his newfound time. “There are four more books I want to write before I die,” he noted. “I’m 35,000 words into one of them. I also hope to spend a little more unstruc- tured time with my wife and family.” Olson’s rural property also has a work- shop powered by solar panels and a greenhouse, where he has a small lemon tree growing lemons in the mid- dle of a Minnesota winter. “I live on a farm, in a beat-up old house, so there is no end of projects in front of me,” he stated.

While not lacking ideas for how to fill his time, Olson does have a hard time coming to terms with not regularly interacting with the people he’s worked alongside and served. “I’ll really miss the people I met both within our county and also on the various boards and commissions I served on,” he shared.

Olson’s decision not to seek re- election to the Big Stone County Board of Commissioners resulted from a de- sire to engage more in his personal life and give someone else a chance to champion their ideas. “I was getting im- patient with the process, getting tired of meetings, and very disappointed with how long it takes to accomplish any- thing,” Olson shared. “Plus, I’ve done it for 20 years - it’s time to give some- one else a chance to work on their pri- orities. I have so many other things I want to do with the time I’ve been given.”

Elected six times to the Big Stone County Board of Commissioners, only running once unopposed, Olson attrib- utes his longevity to being honest, au- thentic, and transparent and having his constituents’ best interest at heart. “Sam Rayburn once said, ‘I always tell the truth, so I don’t have to try and remem- ber what I said to different people.’ I agree with that - I’ve always tried to say the same thing to everyone, no matter where they stand on an issue,” Olson

stated. “Many people who voted for me don’t agree with everything I believe, but I like to think they know I’m pulling for them.”

Looking back on his career, Olson noted that there are many things he’d do differently given the chance. “I know there are people who get a headache as soon as they see me come into the room, but I wish I would have been a little more aggressive, at the risk of causing more headaches, “he noted. “One of the things that was good about our board was that we were, by and large, collegial between ourselves and the people we work with. But, the downside of that is not as much honest, open debate about issues that matter.”

During his time as a commissioner, Olson and the other Big Stone County Board members worked through many issues, ranging from weather-related disasters to recessions that plundered funding and all the problems that come with being a small rural county with an aging population.

Among the many things he hoped to see completed during his tenure, Olson desired to see the Whetstone Di- version Project come to fruition. “Agri- culture property taxes pay the bulk of the bills for county government, so we need to be very supportive of the indus- try, but on the other hand, our lakes and wetlands are also huge assets, and water quality and soil erosion are also part of our purview,” he stated. “What we do with water quality and flood control in Big Stone County affects people from the Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico. So many agencies have input into water decisions, and while every one of them means well, they have honest and deeply held differences. Being unable to resolve those differences may have been my greatest frustration.”

On the flip side, Olson also takes great pride in some personal achieve- ments and what Big Stone County ac- complished during his time as a commissioner. He cites things like the project that brought fiber optic internet to every rural residence in Big Stone County - an $8 million project that cost taxpayers only $100,000. Olson also served as Chairman of PrimeWest’s and Countryside Public Health’s Board of Directors during COVID-19 and be- yond, taking pride in both organiza- tions’ work for clients and local providers.

“We helped get small cities grants that refurbished both homes and busi- nesses throughout the county,” Olson added to the list of county accomplish- ments. “We also started a dilapidated building program that helped clean up blighted properties in all our communi- ties. We built a new highway garage. We’ve helped with substantial improve- ments to Toqua Park in Graceville, the County Fair in Clinton, and the Bike Trail in Ortonville. We put hundreds of thousands of dollars into helping the daycare industry and still have the fifth- lowest tax levy in the entire state. We’ve had a multi-year effort to en- force the right of way on road ditches, which seems like a small thing, but it required steadfast willpower by many different commissioners to stay the course and resist pressure from landowners. Keep in mind, as a com- missioner, I didn’t do any of these

things. I may have been an advocate or provided support, but the county em- ployees are the people who did the work.”

Olson started down the path of joining the Big Stone County Board of Commissioners after asking another commissioner candidate what they wanted to do if elected. “They didn’t have an answer,” he noted. “They just kind of wanted to be a commissioner, and it really bothered me. I thought, why would you want to do something like this if there wasn’t some burning desire to do something? I never under- stood that.”

During his first campaign, Olson made an effort to talk to every house- hold in his district despite not being particularly outgoing. He recalls one encounter, in particular, as being a defining moment for his entire political career. “There was a young woman who lived in Clinton and worked as a clerk at the convenience store,” he re- called. I vaguely knew her. I knew her enough to say hello. I was going door to door in Clinton and knocked on her door. She answered, and we recognized each other. I introduced myself and asked if she had any opinions or sug- gestions for what we should do in the county. She looked at me and told me that no one had ever asked her opinion in her entire life. To think, here was a person who lived in my county and felt helpless that no one had ever asked her how she thought things should be done. That was a definitive moment for me. I’ve spent a lot of time since then ask- ing people what they think.”

Looking to the future, Olson does- n’t plan to continue serving on boards or pursuing local government activity. “A few years ago, I was asked to be on the Board of Public Television, and I thought it might be kind of interesting. Then, I called them up and said that I think the old white man lane is pretty well filled. I thought that they should go find a 30-year-old Somali woman in Willmar and put her on their board. I have had nearly a half-century run at having people listen to my ideas. I think it’s time to listen to other people’s ideas.”

BRENT OLSON