Each month, Eagle Radio in Great Bend will recognize groups or individuals that make a big impact on our community. This Appreciation Month is highlighting the Great Bend City Council. All eight councilmembers and the mayor will be featured with stories throughout the month.
By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
Alan Moeder has been operating as a professional plumber for nearly four
decades serving the Great Bend area, but if it wasn’t for a dishwashing job, "Moeder Carpentry" might have become the recognizable company name instead of
Moeder Plumbing Heating & Air.
In the early 1980s, Alan Moeder was working as a dishwasher at a local
restaurant his senior year of high school.
“My summer job fell through,” said Moeder. “I was going to be a carpenter. A
waitress at the restaurant I worked for told me I should work for her husband
as a plumber.”
Moeder currently has two employees along with himself carrying out a business
he learned without school training, strictly on-job education.
“I like the concept that you’re constantly doing something different,” said
Moeder. “Some of it came natural to me. I always called plumbing like playing
with Tinkertoys. You try to make it look as neat as you can.”
Because of his experience with finances through running his own business for 39
years, Moeder thought about getting involved with the local government to see
if he could do some good for the community.
“I always pondered about going for a Barton County Commission seat when I
retired, but a chance on the Great Bend City Council became available,” noted
Moeder. “I determined I would go ahead with the city council to see if I liked
it.”
Moeder campaigned in an uncontested race in November 2019 and garnered 405
votes for the Ward 1 seat. Being sworn into office Jan. 6,
2020, Moeder mentioned it took some time to figure out how everything works
within the city.
“It is like anything government related, it moves slower than you want it to
work.”
With just over a year’s worth of experience sitting on the eight-member
council, Moeder is proud of what the governing body and administration has been
able to accomplish. The current 10th Street resurfacing project that
is 75% covered by federal money and the ongoing improvements to the city’s
ballfields stood out as a couple successes.
“That is one thing I liked about Great Bend…in my younger days, I played a lot
of softball,” Moeder said. “There were always a lot of fields to play on and
plenty of leagues.”
Moeder joked a bad shoulder has taken him out of the softball playing days, but
as he got older he switched to golf and bowling.
A strong sense of improving his hometown sparked Moeder’s interest in joining
the city council, and now he hopes that community pride will spread as he views
each meeting’s property abatements.
“I’m adamant about keeping property’s appearances looking good,” said Moeder. “I
love what is happening on East 10th Street right now with new
buildings and getting cleaned up. That is the appearance the city gives when
new people come to town.”
Claiming that he wishes to serve additional terms on the city council if
elected, Moeder feels it is hard to beat the smaller community concept.
“I don’t mind going to big cities, but I don’t mind leaving them either.”