Profile: Weldon Macke, Cape Girardeau County 1st District Commissioner (R)

Name: H. Weldon Macke

Date of birth: Aug. 16, 1930

Place of birth: Gordonville

Spouse: Bonnie Macke

Children: Pamela Johnson; Karen Yarbro; Barbie Stroder

Occupation: Consultant

Employer: Self

Businesses owned, all or in part: Macke Store, Macke Farm Service, Macke Farm Equipment, Gordonville Electric and MacCon Construction Co.

Public offices held (elective or appointive): Cape Girardeau County auditor, 34 years. On several boards of county and regional agencies.

Past political campaigns including year and office sought: Elected auditor 1968; re-elected until stepping aside in 2002.

1. Evaluate the progress of the county road improvement program. Has it met the expectations of voters who approved the sales tax in August 2006? If not, why not?

Answer: It took a year to get everything worked out, but 2008 should show that the Advisory Board means business. If everyone, citizens and the county commission, works together, great strides will be made.

2. Should the county commission enact the storm-water control ordinance that has been under consideration for the past several years? If yes, how should it be enforced? If no, are you opposed because of particular provisions in the ordinance or because of a philosophical opposition?

Answer: The problem existed when I left office. There have been attempts to enforce this ordinance and there has been some success, but without public support it will be abused.

3. Should county commission meetings be broadcast on the Web or on public access cable TV? Explain.

Answer: This is a touchy subject. Cape Girardeau County has always spoken by their minutes. The administrative assistants have done an exceptional [job] keeping the minutes. Sooner or later the county will need to get in the 21st century. I will say by being secretary of the Road and Bridge Advisory Board I do tape our meetings, but there is just a lot of talk and a lot of it is not about the subject. I am not against it but would need to see the cost before I could say yes.

4. How do you feel about the city of Cape Girardeau's discussions of peripheral zoning?

Answer: I live in the country, away from even Gordonville taking us in. Nothing crosses the creek or railroad. I have had many who live between Cape Girardeau and Jackson who do not want Cape Girardeau telling them what to do with their property. I would need to know just exactly Cape Girardeau is asking for. I do sympathize with them being caught between the two cities. The county does not have planning and zoning.

5. What makes you the best candidate for the position?

Answer: I feel that my 34 years as Cape Girardeau County auditor and the role I had to play many times during my 34 years gives me experience that the others do not have. I was instrumental in forming such organizations as the Missouri Association of Counties, the Missouri Association of County Auditors, the Regional Planning and Economic Development District and the Crime Lab (now Highway Patrol Crime Lab). I am now working on Regional Morgue where autopsies can be performed. Besides the Road and Bridge Advisory Board, I serve on the Senior Mill Tax Board. I have been president of several of these groups and am chairman of the Regional Planning and treasurer of the state organization. I have lived in rural Cape Girardeau County all my life. I have driven all the roads in Cape County because of our business.

I have been an active member of Zion United Methodist Church of Gordonville. I have taught a Sunday school class for 50 years, and I have been on all boards in our local church and most agencies of the Missouri Methodist Annual Conference. I have served eight years on the General Methodist Church. I am also a certified lay speaker.

I am a Rotarian and a Paul Harris Fellow. I am a member of the Jackson Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Missouri Farm Bureau.

I have some ideas which I will not divulge here but could save the county money and streamline the county's operation.