Seyb graduates in state's 1st certified supervisor class

When you get elected, there is no prerequisite to it so you come with the knowledge you have. But I said, "Okay,  now that I'm elected I want to make sure I'm qualified to be making the best decisions for the county".

LEE COUNTY – Lee County Supervisor Garry Seyb  has become a Certified Iowa County Supervisor. The Iowa State Association of County Supervisors (ISACS) honored its first class of Certified Iowa County Supervisors during a ceremony in Des Moines on August 25 that was held in conjunction with the Iowa State Association of Counties (ISAC) Annual Conference.

Seyb, a Republican, was elected in 2020 unseating Democrat Gary Folluo for the county's District 4 seat.

The Certified Iowa County Supervisor program was created and is administered by county supervisors for county supervisors to create a culture of Iowa county supervisor leadership development through a well-rounded continuing education program with the overall goal of bettering county government in Iowa through education. Certification requires a two-year commitment and a total of 30 total credit hours.

“I am extremely proud of the commitment that was made by the graduates of this program. They have put in a lot of time, energy, and effort on behalf of their constituents to become better public servants through education,” said Tim Neil, ISACS President, Bremer County Supervisor, and Certified Iowa County Supervisor. “Certified Iowa County Supervisors are educated leaders!”

"When you get elected, there is no prerequisite to it so you come with the knowledge you have. But I said, "Okay,  now that I'm elected I want to make sure I'm qualified to be making the best decisions for the county," Seyb said.

"So I started looking at what to do to qualify myself, so to speak, as a supervisor. And ISAC had these classes."

Seyb said he originally thought the ISAC courses were required. When he found out they weren't he signed up anyway to increase his base of knowledge on county business.

He said he was keeping an eye on the coursework and his progress for the first year, but things with the county got so busy in the second year that he lost track of where he was.

"There were in-person and zoom classes and I went to those to make myself smarter, but I had lost track and then they called and said I had met all the criteria to be certified with the first class and I was pretty happy and surprised about that," he said.

County supervisors in Iowa are elected to a four-year term by a vote of the public and serve as a member of a three or five-person board of supervisors. The board of supervisors is the governing body of county government. A county supervisor’s duty is to “protect and preserve the rights, privileges, and property of the county or of its residents, and to preserve and improve the peace, safety, health, welfare, comfort, and convenience of its residents.”

More information about the program and a full listing of graduates can be found at https://www.iowacounties.org/programs/certified-iowa-county-supervisor/.