Fischer sees Economic Need in County

After his first three weeks in office as the Bourbon County District Two Commissioner, Jeff Fischer continues to learn about his new role as well as look for ways for the county to have success.

1-30 Fischer

Born and raised in Hammond before leaving in 1995 for Arizona and then Florida, Fischer moved back to the area in 2005. A licensed professional engineer, he spent time working in Kansas City before tiring of the long commute. Fischer serves as a pastor at the Fort Scott Apostolic Christian Church, but now leads in the county in a different way after being elected in 2016.

“A neighbor called and asked me if I’d do him a favor,” Fischer said of how he first entered the race for Bourbon County Commissioner of District Two. “And without knowing what the question was, I answered yes.”

Fischer said part of the logic for his campaign was because of construction projects happening in the county and his experience in contracting. Fischer added he sees a number of other concerns in the county including dropping population leading to a shrinking taxpaying base, high taxes discouraging new industry and the need to leverage resources available.

“For me to earn a living, I had to drive to Kansas City or Joplin,” Fischer said. “And that’s what our kids are facing, too. There needs to be more economic development activity.”

Fischer said one of his first goals in his new position is to compare Bourbon County to other counties as benchmarks, to see how they are successful and if there are ways Bourbon County can follow their example.

Already, Fischer said he has learned a great deal about what he is able to do as a commissioner as well as what is not allowed, such as meeting with a fellow commissioner outside of a scheduled meeting, even if only for a casual conversation.

2 thoughts on “Fischer sees Economic Need in County”

  1. New businesses won’t come because of the taxes, and the tax deals cut to some new businesses are 100% unfair to any existing business…….We need to drain this local swamp also.

    The property tax structure has to be completely redone so residents and businesses can build and improve properties without penalty.

    Sales tax has to be reduced so people will shop here instead of crossing into MO for their larger purchases.

    JOBS, JOBS, JOBS need to be created. Not minimum wage jobs, but career jobs……Too bad 3M didn’t come here? (we all know why)

    Then maybe, we can start to rebuild the city, fix the roads, tear down all the condemned houses, and maybe enforce a few code violations that really matter (stop worrying about grass clippings, and start citing for trash piled up in front yards and on porches)……

    And while we’re at it, let’s give our police a living salary, better training, and then cut them loose to clean up the drug problems in this place…..yeah, that would be nice wouldn’t it……..

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