Benton County Supervisors, Republican, District 1
Kellie Van Ree
School – I graduated from Vinton-Shellsburg highschool in 2001 and attended both Kirkwood Community College majoring in Nursing and Bellevue University majoring in Long-Term Care Administration. I hold active Licenses as a Nursing Home Administrator and Registered Nurse.
Occupation- I’ve worked in the healthcare industry since 1998, primarily in the nursing home sector. For the past three years I’ve been in more of a government advocacy role. I am serving in the role of Director of Clinical Services with LeadingAge Iowa. In this role I am responsible for a few things, primarily interpreting rules and regulations and educating our members on these, providing clinical support to long-term care providers, and advocating on their behalf on issues such as regulatory aspects, reimbursement, etc. LeadingAge Iowa is a trade association for non-profit long-term care providers including nursing homes, assisted living, independent living, residential care, adult day centers, and programs for all-inclusive care for the elderly.
Family – my husband Todd and I along with our almost 12 year old daughter Lexi live north of Vinton. My husband just accepted a position with the DOT after leaving his job at PMX after nearly 20 years. My daughter Lexi is a middle schooler at Vinton Shellsburg middle school. Lexi loves dance, has participated in several Act 1 events, and enjoys soccer with AYSO.
I have a large extended family (brothers, nieces, nephews, cousins, etc from all over Benton County. My dad and step-mom live in Cedar Rapids and my step-dad lives near Urbana (I’m not sure how much of that you want to use, feel free to cut down).
Experience- I have quite a bit of experience reviewing Iowa Code. I’ve never ran or served in a public office, however, I’ve spent the last 6 months thoroughly reviewing the supervisors manual, Iowa code in conjunction with the ordinances, and sitting in the supervisors meetings.
Why I am running – My attention was drawn to the current Supervisors like many other Benton County citizens when the Board of Supervisors were being sued for sexual harassment and then a short time later terminated the board of health. While trying to understand what was going on in the county government, it was clear that we need a change. With much thought and consideration I decided that I can’t complain about the current situation if I don’t try to drive the change myself. So, on behalf of the citizens of Benton County I decided to run. I also feel like part of the change needs to be a younger individual that has the opportunity to hear about state and federal trends, leadership education, and a lot of various continuing education that can bring new ideas to the table, is willing to dig in and research before making decisions, and collaborating to bring a positive change to Benton County leadership.
Jim Magdefrau 