On June 29, the Jackson Area Chamber of Commerce hosted a Town Hall for the Cape Girardeau County Presiding Commissioner candidates. We spoke one-on-one with each of the candidates about what they hope to bring to the office if elected.
J.W. Strack has had a family farm that has been an operation for 163 years and has also been involved in the quarry and contracting businesses. Here's what he hopes to bring to the office.
"A lot more transparency and try to bring more of a workforce into Cape County if we get a better workforce because you've been in Cape County and like restaurants and stuff, they're understaffed and they say we got these tables closed because we don't have enough help. And you can't, if you don't have the help, you're not getting the tax money, you're not building roads, you're not doing what you want to do. And we need to get a better workforce, or more of workforce. We need to be more worker friendly."
Charlie Herbst has been a Cape Girardeau Police Officer and City Council member and is currently serving as Associate Commissioner.
"If elected the office of Presiding Commissioner of Cape Girardeau County to bring along my experience and my organizational skills and leadership that I've displayed in the county the last several years as Associate Commissioner."
Joe Hobbs owns Wings, Etc. and plans to use his experience as a business owner and manager to make decisions about the county's budget.
"When elected, I hope to bring some transparency and be able to let folks know more about what we're actually doing and get feedback from them so that we can be transparent about what we're doing and how we're spending the taxpayers' money."
The campaigns of the three Commissioner Candidates continue as elections are set for August 4th.