Hahs to seek reelection as mayor; highlights areas of emphasis

Dwain Hahs has decided to seek a fourth two-year term in office in 2021 as mayor of Jackson, the Cape Girardeau County seat.

Hahs, who succeeded long-tenured mayoral incumbent Barbara Lohr in 2015, informed the city’s Board of Aldermen of his decision via email Monday.

Jackson, unlike the City of Cape Girardeau, has no limit on how many terms a mayor may serve.

Hahs, 68, uses two words repetitively to describe his approach to his job: progress and growth.

“No matter what line of work you’re in, you have to keep growing and you have to keep progressing,” said Hahs, who retired in 2008 after serving 31 years in the U.S., Europe and Asia as an executive with Bausch & Lomb, the eye health products company known, among other things, for Ray-Ban sunglasses.

“When I started with the company, it was less than a billion-dollar business,” Hahs said, “and by the time I left, sales had grown to 3 billion.”

Hahs and the city’s eight aldermen set a new schedule of priorities in November he said he is eager to tackle.

Two areas, he said, are most critical.

“Economic development, industrial and retail, which leads to new employment, is a focus,” said Hahs, adding infrastructure improvements to the city’s water system and wastewater treatment also are high on Jackson’s to-do list.

“We also need a long-term annexation strategy,” he said, “because developers ask often for land parcels to be added into the City of Jackson.”

Hahs opined “a five-to-10-year plan” for expanding city limits needs to be undertaken.

Improving traffic flow within Jackson, he noted, continues to be a challenge as the city has added two roundabouts during his six-year tenure — most recently at the intersection of East Main Street and Shawnee Boulevard.

Hahs said he continues to support the efforts of the Uptown Jackson Revitalization Organization to bring vibrancy to the city’s historic business district.

Curbside recycling, he said, remains a wish but is not actively on the table for implementation.

“Until the industry comes back, until it makes sense to do so, we’ll continue for now to operate our (municipal) recycling center,” Hahs said.

Jackson’s recycling center, at 508 Sawyer Lane, is open on its fall and winter schedule through March: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays.

Hahs said he and his wife, Susan, gave due consideration to whether he could “give the proper time” to the mayoralty for another two years.

“I enjoy interacting with the citizens and I still want to work with the aldermen and staff in seeing Jackson continue to progress, expand and grow,” he said.