On June 1, Bill Meyer, who retired after 30-year career as a healthcare executive and chose, with his wife, Liz, to relocate to Fort Scott, filed as a candidate for the Kansas House of Representatives in District 4.
Bill earned his M.H.A. degree from George Washington University in 1971 and over his career served on hospital and hospital system executive staffs in Virginia, Maryland, Kansas, Iowa, Maine, and Washington, D.C. In the mid-1980s, he served as President of Mercy Hospitals of Kansas, based in Fort Scott. He is a Life Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives. Upon returning to Fort Scott in 2000, Bill served as Registrar of Fort Scott Community College until retiring in 2007. During that same period, his wife, Elizabeth Meyer, served as Director of the Nursing Program at the College. Bill is a member and past-President of the Rotary Club of Fort Scott, a member of the Bourbon County Arts Council, the Historic Preservation Association of Bourbon County, and a volunteer in the Kansas Guardianship Program. He served on a committee that successfully promoted voter support of the bond issue to renovate and update U-234 high, middle and elementary schools. In January of this year, Bill was chosen to serve as a Trustee on the Board of Fort Scott Community College. The position had been held by his wife who died suddenly in November 2019. Bill and Liz celebrated 50 years of marriage shortly before her death.
“I am a Kansan by choice, not birth,” said Bill Meyer. “Liz and I fell in love with Fort Scott and the surrounding community during my years with Mercy Hospitals of Kansas and, when we decided to retire, Fort Scott was where we wanted to be.” Meyer added, “Of all the places we lived, we always felt welcomed and wanted here. I am now in a position where I have an opportunity to give back to this community through service in public office.”
Bill Meyer knows and is prepared to deal with the challenges we face. He will be a strong advocate for Medicaid Expansion and protecting funding for K-12, Community, and Technical Colleges. He sees the expansion of broadband internet availability as a critical ingredient in fostering economic stability and growth in rural communities across Kansas. He recognizes that promoting economic growth is the only alternative to the heavy tax burden currently carried by homeowners, small businesses, and farmers/ranchers in District 4.
District 4 covers the eastern half of Bourbon County, to view: