Cape County officials take on statewide leadership roles

Three Cape Girardeau elected officials are taking on statewide roles.

Presiding Commissioner Clint Tracy, Associate Commissioner Charlie Herbst, and County Auditor Pete Frazier have each been elected by their peers to leadership positions, according to a recent news release.

At the annual November conference, Tracy was installed as president of the Missouri Association of Counties.

The Missouri Association of Counties, or MAC, was founded in 1972, and is a not-for-profit corporation established to provide assistance to its member counties in matters pertaining to local, state and federal government activities.

In Missouri, MAC represents 1,400 county-elected officials in 114 counties.

"MAC is the collective voice of counties across the state," Tracy said in an interview Thursday.

Tracy said several items are on his radar, including the statewide issue of how counties will handle 911 funding after legislators passed a law earlier this year allowing counties to collect sales tax on cell phones to pay for the system.

"We have our priorities for the session," Tracy said, but added, "there are always things that will pop up."

But, Tracy said, he appreciates having other representatives in MAC's leadership who can serve as a resource when those concerns arise.

Tracy said another priority for him will be to advocate for state mandates to include funding.

Tracy was elected to the county commission in 2010, and in 2017 earned his master's degree from the U.S. Army War College in Pennsylvania, according to previous reporting.

Also in November, Herbst was installed as president of the County Commissioners Association of Missouri, or CCAM.

CCAM was established in 1983 to create a close and cooperative relationship among the commissioners of the state, to provide an opportunity for its members to become better informed about the powers and duties of their offices as described by state statutes, and to investigate legislation relating to the office and responsibilities of county commissioners.

"Cape Girardeau County has had a history of elected officials being involved on a state level," Herbst said Wednesday. He noted former county officials including Gene Huckstep, Rodney Miller and Gerald Jones were instrumental in putting together the MAC trust, and former Sheriff John Jordan and County Coroner John Clifton also have held leadership roles at the state level.

"I look at it as my job," Herbst said. "I was elected to be a full-time county commissioner. ... We can't effect change at the state level unless we get involved."

Herbst said his job as president will be to lead the organization. "We adopt some resolutions we hope our legislators can rally around," Herbst said, adding those resolutions can include pre-emptive local control, avoiding unfunded mandates and the like -- "legislation that will affect us here in Cape County."

Herbst said it was a bit of a coincidence he and Tracy both ascended to presidency of their respective organizations.

He and Tracy were both elected as secretary of their respective organizations, he said, and each year, they moved up one step in the rotation, as second vice president, first vice president, and finally president.

Herbst said in his case, he skipped a step when Karen Miller of Boone County did not run again, so he jumped up in the rotation.

Herbst was elected to the county commission in 2012.

Frazier was elected earlier this year to lead the Auditors Association of Missouri.

That organization represents 25 counties in the state, and provides annual training with 20 hours of continuing education in the procedures and practices of accounting and auditing. The association is also instrumental in evaluating and providing input on legislation impacting state statutes. With it being a smaller organization it affords the members an opportunity to collaborate on information that could assist in counties across the state.

Frazier was elected to be Cape Girardeau County's auditor in 2010, when predecessor David Ludwig did not seek re-election.

Additionally, according to the release, Associate Commissioner Paul Koeper is president of the Missouri Association of Counties Workers' Comp Trust Fund.

The concept of a self-insurance program became a reality in 1987 when the Missouri Association of Counties formed its Workers' Compensation Fund. In 2010, the fund changed its name to MAC Trust, the Missouri Association of Counties Workers' Compensation Trust.

Membership in this Trust is open to counties in the State of Missouri, which are members of the Missouri Association of Counties, cities located within such counties and other governmental entities established by such counties whose employees have the same status as county employees for the purposes of workers' compensation. Ninety-nine agencies are in the trust.

Koeper was first elected to his county commission seat in 2008.

mniederkorn@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3630