Mike Bruner envisions an Allen County commission that is more accessible, more mobile, more civic-minded, and more in touch with the needs of its constituents.
To this end, Bruner, who is challenging current commissioner Jerry Daniels for the District 1 seat, is hoping to reshape the weekly meeting schedule.
Instead of the usual Tuesday-morning roundtable huddle at the Allen County Courthouse a meeting whose 8:30 start-time makes it difficult for the average working person to attend Bruner proposes taking the show on the road. At least once a month.
The commission, says Bruner, could schedule a small fraction of its weekly meetings during the evening hours and stage them at venues in towns other than Iola, in hopes that this would encourage more residents to attend.
Why cant commissioners hold at least one meeting a month in Humboldt, asks Bruner, or Savonburg or Moran or Elsmore or Carlyle or any of the other towns dotting greater Allen County? I would just like for us to take a more energetic approach to civic engagement in the county, said Bruner, who sat down for an interview with the Register on Wednesday.
SINCE FILING for the position in May, Bruner, a 40-year resident of Humboldt, has journeyed the 500 miles of road that make up the countys first district in an effort to meet his would-be constituents.
In his conversations with potential voters, there were three concerns that rang loudest in Bruners ears: One was the just-mentioned inconvenience of the commissions Tuesday morning meetings. The second, said Bruner, pertains to the quality of the districts roads. And the third concern Bruner encounters involves the nature and scope of the countys engagement with local economic development.
ROADS
[One of] the driving things that pushed me into that moment of madness when I decided to file for county commission was frustration over the Highway 169 project, said Bruner, referring to the lengthy construction-related road closure between Iola and Chanute. It was obvious that the state was basically cutting costs by using an unofficial detour on the old highway, and what they were doing was transferring that cost to the county. (The official, state-sanctioned detour encourages motorists to travel many miles out of the way, to U.S. 75., before resuming their north-south trek.)
As a Humboldt resident, Bruner gladly concedes that the de facto detour, which funnels traffic down the old highway and directly through Humboldts townsquare, has been good for that towns burgeoning business district. But, says Bruner, whose daughter and young grandson travel the narrow highway from Carlyle to Chanute almost every day, the safety threat that accompanies the increased traffic cannot be ignored, especially as winter approaches.
Bruner understands that the county commission isnt to blame for the state-initiated road project, but if he were on the commission at the time, he says he would have been more vocal in naming his misgivings.
I would have wanted [Rep.] Kent Thompson and [Sen.] Caryn Tyson there, and I would have let them know that it was a state responsibility, not a county responsibility, said Bruner. I think the state owes us money for the additional maintenance cost.
