Jefferson County Executive Dennis Gannon announced Sept. 1 he will run for a second four-year term.
Gannon, 66, of De Soto will run in the August 2022 primary election on the Republican Party’s ticket.
He is the county’s second elected county executive after voters approved a charter form of government in 2008. Ken Waller, now the Jefferson County clerk, held the office from 2011 to 2019.
Gannon, a prominent local businessman, said he is seeking a second term to finish several goals he set for his first term.
“I think it’s been great working with the citizens of Jefferson County,” he said. “There are a lot of really good things going on. Not all of them will be done in the time frame of one term. I’d like to see some of them come to reality.”
Gannon conceded the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has slowed some projects.
“We’ve had some stalling to address some major issues with the pandemic, but that doesn’t mean that working on other projects hasn’t been going on in the meantime,” he said.
Gannon said one of the reasons he wants to run again is the upcoming expansion of I-55 to three lanes in each direction from Pevely to south of Festus, with most construction scheduled for 2024.
“A lot of people worked very hard to make this happen,” he said. “There was a lot of collaboration. It looks like it’s finally going to become a reality.”
Gannon said the recent opening of a riverboat port at Kimmswick was a major step, but only a step, to opening the county to river commerce.
“It’s very heartening that two boats have docked there for a day, and I’m hoping for many more to come,” he said. “But one of the things we need to work on is an at-grade crossing at the railroad tracks that lead to the port. That definitely needs to be done. There have been talks with people in Louisiana about having a container port along the Mississippi in the county. Those are some of the things I’ve been working on.”
Gannon said trying to get a new county courthouse and jail is another project he’d like to continue to work on.
The county in August purchased a 15.24-acre property at Business 21 and Goldfinch Lane in Hillsboro as the possible site of a new county jail.
Gannon said the county owns enough property in Hillsboro for a new courthouse, most likely to the south of the current site.
“We have to figure out a way to do these things and make sure we don’t put the county at financial risk,” he said.
Gannon said the challenges of providing leadership during a worldwide pandemic have been just that.
“I’ve heard my aunt talking about my uncle dying during the pandemic of 1917-1918, but that’s really the only thing I knew about it. That seemed like something I would never experience. But when it came, no one knew what it would be like, that I would be sitting at a conference table with other people trying to sort through the best information we had at the moment and trying to figure out what we should do, set down the best practices and procedures. No one knew what to do.”
As county executive, Gannon is paid an $84,847 annual salary.
He said he knows of no other potential candidates.
“Judging from my calls and emails during the first few months of COVID, there are plenty of people who think they can do a better job,” he said.
Gannon and his wife, state Sen. Elaine Freeman Gannon, have two grown sons.