Meet the Mayor: Gary Bukowski

Friday, October 10, 2008

Despite his positive attitude regarding the area, Fort Scott's Mayor sees places to improve.

Mayor Gary Bukowski came to Fort Scott in 1968. He attended Fort Scott Community College for two years before heading to Pittsburg State University where he got a bachelor's degree in business and administration.

Bukowski began working at Key Industries and ended up staying for 25 years. He then moved to Wisconsin for 18 months before returning about five years ago. Bukowski now works for Extrusions.

The decision to run was an easy one for Bukowski.

"I had a desire to serve," said Bukowski. "I had a lot of people encouraging me."

As Mayor, Bukowski sees room for improvement in Fort Scott such as the lack of employment opportunities and population.

"It seems of the years that we have seen some deterioration of the town," said Bukowski.

During his time with the commission Bukowski has a couple goals that he would like to accomplish. Bukowski believes that it is important to create ways to eliminate people leaving Fort Scott to go out for entertainment. He hopes that if this can be accomplished people may want to come to Fort Scott from the surrounding areas. However, his main goal is to improve the city's infrastructure. He said that making the city more attractive should create more incoming businesses.

"It is the best way to achieve growth," said Bukowski.

Bukowski is not just the Mayor, he is a proud father of four children. In fact, he has one son and a daughter-in-law who are leaving for Iraq shortly. His son is making his second trip while his daughter-in-law is making her first.

"Who cares who Gary Bukowski is in 40 years, my kids will reflect it, who I am is who I want them to be," said Bukowski. "They are my legacy."