NEW HIGHWAY ENGINEER PROMOTES PARTNERSHIPS

JACKSON -- The job of the district engineer for the Missouri Department of Transportation is to connect Southeast Missourians to the rest of the world, says Scott Meyer.

Meyer, the department's new district engineer, spoke Wednesday night before an estimated 200 people who attended the Jackson Chamber of Commerce's held its annual Manufacturers Appreciation Banquet at the Knight's of Columbus Hall. The banquet is held to honor industry in the community.

Meyer oversees the operations of a 14-county area which has more roadway miles than any district in the state. He said his goal as district engineer is to build partnerships with those who affect or are affected by transportation by working closely with the communities, county, state officials, private industry and the general public.

"We as a department must come to the point of building partnerships with the people of Missouri, with the industry of Missouri, with the government of Missouri, and with the cities and counties."

He highlighted three key ingredients to an effective partnership, one of which was having a pro-active partnership involving getting out and talking with people, making plans together and moving forward together.

The second ingredient was being proud to be a partner by treating people fairly.

"As we reach out to people and begin to build partnerships, we're finding that as that happens, people want to be our partners because we're doing the right things," he said.

Meyer's theory is a little different than most when it comes to getting funding for a project.

"I say, find out what we ought to do first, then get everybody on board...and I believe the money will come along."

The best overall plan, he says, is one that's doable, one that's fiscally conservative and one that's politically astute.

His third ingredient is progress in partnering, which means having shared goals such as making a profit for the contractors or having on-time delivery or saving the taxpayers money.

Meyer, who calls himself a believer and not a dreamer, says a dreamer looks up at the sky and waits for a star to fall while a believer goes up to the sky and shakes it until a star falls.

"Transportation is an exciting thing," he added. "As we begin to do a better job with transportation, and use transportation more, our world gets smaller. As the world grows smaller, our region has got to come together."

After dinner, Don Sievers, president of the chamber, introduced long-time members of the organization, including several past presidents. Special guests of the evening were Cape Girardeau County Commissioners Larry Bock and Joe Gambill, along with State Rep. David Schwab of Jackson.