Leaders needed

Butler County needs two people to step up and serve as officials for our cities, deciding on important matters like how our tax dollars will be spent.

Poplar Bluff needs to fill an at-large seat after Robert Duckett stepped down due to family matters.

Fisk needs to fill a seat on the Board of Aldermen after one of its members was removed.

Both individuals were elected to their offices in April.

Duckett received 16 votes as a write-in candidates and the Fisk aldermen ran unopposed, receiving 26 votes.

It is far from an easy job to lead our communities, especially these days.

But if you’ve ever had a concern about how your tax dollars are being spent, or a service that you felt should be provided and wasn’t, or wasn’t done to the standard you thought it should, now is the time when you can make an impact.

Our communities are led by the individuals who fill these seats.

They can help bring new jobs to our area, or not.

They can decide if streets should be repaired, or not.

They choose if every dollar you pay in taxes is used wisely, or not.

In the absence of good leadership, our communities cannot thrive. We cannot have good leadership if no one volunteers to step forward.

We admit these are difficult and often thankless jobs.

But if you want to see your town prosper, if you have children or grandchildren who will inherit the decisions made today, now is your chance to help make that happen.

There is perhaps no better time than approaching Independence Day to remember how valuable, but how fragile, our freedoms and way of life are, and what our roles are in preserving them.

Poplar Bluff City Hall is accepting letters of interest until July 10 for the at-large seat, which can be held by any qualifying resident of the city. Fisk has not set a deadline. Both cities have said their council or board of aldermen will vote on the final selection.

Each person will hold the seat until April 2024, when the unexpired terms for both seats will be up for election.