SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) -- The three candidates for Minnehaha County Commission all met Thursday afternoon to discuss what they bring to the role of commissioner and what they see as the biggest tasks laid before the county. Is there enough land to hunt pheasants in South Dakota? Dozens of people headed to a meeting hosted by the League of Women Voters of South Dakota to meet their candidates running for county commission Thursday. Dean Karsky who has been a part of the commission since January 3, 2017, is now running for re-election this year. He stated that his priorities are public safety, supporting law enforcement and first responders, fire departments, rural fire departments, rural ambulance providers, are all important and place an emphasis on what they do in the county. Cole Heisey the two-time Sioux Falls area legislative candidate is now running for the county commission seat. He is a longtime resident of Minnehaha County and is currently working as an insurance professional. His priorities are maintaining and expanding the county's infrastructure, keeping the government small, and having more dialogue about lowering taxes. Anny Libengood, spent almost 18 years working for Minnehaha County Human Services. She also was the county’s first-ever Community Services and Housing Navigator. She wants to see a full-time commission, getting the retention rates of county employees up, and having a responsible budget to keep property taxes low. Thoughts on Homelessness and people sleeping outdoors The candidates were asked if the county would ever consider banning people from sleeping in public property as well as addressing homelessness. Heisey said it's a complicated issue saying some people don't want the help but there is more conversation to be had on the topic. "My first reactionary response to that is if people wanna sleep outside that's their right, obviously not on private property, but I think that we should be doing our best to get them the help that they need and to get them to a center," Heisey said. It's worth the conversation to see what the city of Sioux Falls and the county could do to build additional facilities" Libengood said while she's not in favor of the law like that she does think there could be something to learn from it. "I actually wonder if that would help us, because the county mandated by the state to take care of the homeless population so would that force the county and other partners to ramp up what they do," Libengood said. "I would never want that as a law, I think that's the wrong way to go." Karsky stated that some people are homeless by choice and it's important to realize that there are resources out there. "Now I wouldn't want to come every morning to 20 tents in the parking lot of the library, I don't think it's the right place. I think it's appropriate for communities to say we don't want this to be in this portion of our town," Karsky said. " There is help out there, you can knock on any church door, the Human Services Department and they will find a place for you." Referred Law 21 and Fairgrounds The candidates were asked how they sit in relation to Referred Law 21 as well as the fairgrounds to mine the granite underneath it. Libengood said she is not a fan of the carbon pipeline or selling the fairground's land without seeing what the donor's intent was when they donated it. "I don't think we should be using eminent domain to take away people's land. I also am not really a fan of selling the fairgrounds I would like to see what the donor had intended when they donated that land before I would make any decisions," Libengood said. Karsky said if we aren't doing carbon capture we aren't playing on the same field as everyone else in terms of jobs it will bring in. He added that he's not in favor of selling the fairgrounds, but if we move it to a different location that might be different and they need to discuss what the donor intended and what needs to be done. We can't say to a pipeline company "'You can't put that pipeline here it's not safe' That is beyond the capacity of the county commission so the argument for local control on RL 21 is basically invalid because that's out of our preview anyway,"' Karsky said. "If your house is sitting on top of a gold mine would you move your house to get to the gold? That's kind of where the fairgrounds is at right now." Heisey said he thought there were better ways to deal with carbon emissions than a pipeline. "There are alternatives to carbon capture I think taking carbon out of the air, putting it into a pipe, and storing it in the ground. It's been shown that it will likely not be able to contain it for long periods of time. There are alternatives such as Methanol," Heisey said. "I'm open to exploring what the county can do and what other investors and stakeholders can do to reinvest in that property." Security of voting in the county The candidates were asked what they thought of the security of elections in Minnehaha County. Karsky said they don't define what a resident is and it's their job that the people who are supposed to be voting are. "Fair and open elections are important, counting all the votes are important. There has been a lot of discussion on what is a resident. We don't define what a resident is the state statutes define what a resident is and who gets to vote based on that," said Karsky. "Making sure that all the ballots are counted and everyone who should be allowed to vote gets to vote." Heisey said that the issue is very complicated stating there have been some issues with residency. he stated that he has no issues using voting machines but sees no problem with a hand count audit. "The issue that has come up most recently comes down to residency, who is a resident of South Dakota and who's eligible to vote here? There are a lot of out-of-state voters, and obviously, those people need a residency to vote, There are some issues with people being registered at commercial addresses, and empty lots," Heisey said. Libengood said she doesn't see much she would change, stating that residency laws are dictated by the state "I haven't seen anything on a county level I would change at this point. A lot of it is state-mandated," Libengood said. "spot checking sure I totally get that, make sure the machine is working properly. The RV, out-of-state people question that's state law.