According to Rob Francis, there is an old saying that elected officials use their first term to learn what they are doing. As the incumbent in the second district county comission race, Francis now stands ready to put that knowledge to work if elected for a second term.
Francis originally got into the race to help solve a signature item of contention, duplicate ambulance services for the City of Iola and Allen County.
“When I ran the first time, I wanted to work on that issue because I thought it was something that was going to be solvable,” Francis said. “After working several months on it, I came to realize it was a more complex issue than I had first thought.”
A citizens committee was formed to tackle the issue as well as an independent review, due to return a reccomendation soon. Part of the issue that some say makes it hard to come to an answer is the potential loss of a professional firefighting force if the ambulance service is severed from the City of Iola’s fire department. A loss of those services would mean the city would most likely have to go to a volunteer force.
“I pray about this issue a lot,” Francis said. “We don’t want to see the city lose the professional force it has now. They are wonderful to have and have done a lot of good for Iola and the surrounding community with the different things they can respond to.”
Francis believes a solution will come in the near future and is open to working with whatever recommendations are made to make a resolution a reality.
Another issue which Francis has worked on as comissioner and is a central point to his vision for the future of Allen County is the new hospital. Allen County Hospital is a year away from completion. Francis points to the new facility as a way to not just provide essential services to the community, but also to build it as a vehicle for further economic development.
“Once the hospital is done, we need to aggressively pursue the issue of recruiting new staff,” Francis said. “Not only is it going to add new skills to our community, but also increase the amount of high wage earners to the area. Growing that facility is a big key to continuing the growth of Allen County.”
Going forward, Francis believes that the budget and other fiscal issues will weigh on the minds of voters. His philosophy in his first term was to, “listen to the experts.” It’s a policy he plans on continuing.
“I’m not the expert in these fields like public works, law enforcement and all the other things that the county handles,” Francis said. “I will continue to listen to the people working for the county and use my best judgement to make the right decisions for our community.”
