Jeffrey R. Lange
To tell you about myself, my name is Jeff Lange. I have lived in the same house in Medford with my wife, and at first, our two sons, for thirty-five years. My great-grandfather August Lange, and his wife Amelia, settled in Medford from Germany in 1883. My grandfather had a farm north of Klingbeils Lumber. My father, Robert Lange, told me he walked from the farm to the train depot to go off to WWII. I served in the Air Force, and after that, received a Marketing degree. Over the years, I have served 20 years on the Medford Area School Board and many years on several other area boards. At the present, I am Chairman of my Church Council and Senior Vice Commander of Chapter 31 of Disabled American Veterans.
Some of the reasons I wish to serve on the County Board are that I believe in service. I also believe that Veterans have not been treated very well over the past few years and we need more experienced Veterans on the County Board. I am also very conservative when it comes to budgets.
As far as challenges go, budgeting is one of the big ones. I am very conservative with budgets, having been both the Treasurer and President of the Medford School Board at different times. When I left the school board we had an almost five million dollar rainy day fund. Another challenge is regaining the trust of veterans in the County. I think it has been badly damaged.
There are different skills and abilities I can bring to the county board. My military service, my many years of local service, my years of employment, and education and life long experiences of living in this area, provide me with a good background to serve on the county board and to help it move forward.
The county does many things very well. Having been to other areas, our roads are well kept. The Commission on Aging does an excellent job. If you walk into the County Court House, everyone I have ever talked to is both friendly and helpful. The Sheriff’s Department is extremely well run. I am not running for office because the county government is broken, I am running to help in a couple of areas where I feel I can be of benefit.
