By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Eighteen years and 900 meetings. That's how long Jennifer Schartz represented the Barton County Commission before deciding not to run for reelection in 2022. Schartz officially left the body on Jan. 9 as new Commission Donna Zimmerman was sworn in.
"Throughout the 18 years, I really never saw myself as a politician, and I always hated getting lumped in with them because I think that brings forth a lot of other stuff I just wasn't interested in," Schartz said. "The only thing I was interested in was serving the public."
A lifetime Great Bend resident, Schartz spent more than 23 years working at the Great Bend Tribune. She then taught journalism at Barton Community College until her contract was not renewed. That's when a friend suggested she might make a good commissioner.
"I had thought about it," she said. "I thought at some point in my life I'd like to do some public service. Everything kind of fell into place and I decided to run."
The commission was a three-person board prior to the current five-person body it is today. Schartz was the first and only person to represent the county's fifth district, which covers much of the western half of Great Bend, and the six miles west of the city. Her first race was contested, as was one several terms later.
Schartz is proud of many county accomplishments in her 18 years as commissioner. One of the early projects involved a rework of Boyd Road. "There used to be two curves, and they were not only curves, they were like 90-degree angles that you had to almost stop to get through," she said. "Then you get to the railroad crossing at Boyd, and if you didn't practically stop, you'd bottom out your car."
More recently, the commission was instrumental in the installation of enhanced signage at College Road and Washington Avenue just north of Great Bend.
"That was really important to me because there was a young girl who lost her life there," Schartz said. "I think any time you can put money toward something that may turn out to be life-saving for somebody, I think that's really an important way to use money."
One more big project was the paving of the road leading to the Great Bend compost site. Given the materials used and the location of the road, Schartz and other commissioners had to work with the Great Bend city council and township officials.
"In order to make that happen, it took three different elected groups getting together, putting some money together, to make it good for everybody," she said. "I think it shows you can do more with good teamwork than without."
Schartz was able to serve 18 years without official term limits, though opponents and voters could have ended the run during any of the elections. She said longevity in public service is sometimes a good thing, but she is ready to hand the reins to Zimmerman.
"I would not feel good retiring if I were not being succeeded by somebody like Donna Zimmerman," said Schartz. "I think she's just going to do a fantastic job for the taxpayers in the fifth district. I'm happy to leave it in her hands."
Now retired, Schartz plans to finish up work on a book she wrote for her grandchildren during the pandemic, "Grandma was Once A Dumb Kid Just Like Me."
"It just talks about a lot of the things I did when I was a kid, just to put my life into perspective with my grandkids, so they can see I wasn't always the old grandma and that I was once a young kid," she said. "That has been really fun to do. I worked on it pretty diligently for a while then I put it away, so I want to get that finished."