Bruce Symes is seeking a second term as Allen County commissioner, representing District 3.
Symes took office in January 2019 in order to complete the term of Jim Talkington, who resigned the office in 2018.
Symes now looks to be elected to his own full four-year term.
Some of his accomplishments include: Overseeing construction for two ambulance stations, purchasing an ambulance for the county, expanding health insurance coverage and retirement benefits for county employees, making improvements to rural fire district facilities and buying rescue boats for the county.
Symes also serves on the southeast Kansas juvenile detention board, Bowlus Fine Arts Center commission, county economic development board, and is involved with Iola Industries and the new reopening schools committee.
Symes said he continues to be “interested in leading and in being involved in the decision-making processes” for the county, and also looks forward to continuing to learn while in office.
“I see [being commissioner] as a responsibility … to keep our county viable,” he said, especially when it comes to “preserving a small town, rural way of life.”
He elaborated: “We can’t just sit back … make sure there’s gravel on our roads … and expect Allen County to be viable in the future.”
Symes said he’s interested in “keeping infrastructure strong,” and doing so by “investing as wisely as possible,” specifically when “it’s gonna pay dividends.”
This is “the best thing we can do for economic development,” he added.
For example, “I think G&W [Foods grocery store] was a good investment,” he said.
“I never want to speculate with taxpayer money,” Symes noted, though he’s not opposed to using funds to help with “schools, arts, and recreation opportunities,” since these are “an essential part of the community.”
However, he does not want to raise property taxes in order to increase the funds available for investments, saying “we’re looking at trying to keep the mill levy static.”
He also added that, when it comes to choosing which entities to invest in, “if I’m gonna be swayed one way or another, it’s gonna be towards existing business and industry.”
One existing entity to which the county is already closely linked is St. Luke’s/Allen County Regional Hospital.
Symes said he’s going to do everything he can to maintain that relationship, and added that he “wants it to be part of the county forever.”
