Jeff Kreger is running for County Commissioner and he has big plans for Kay County

Editor’s Note: This is the first of three stories featuring candidates for the office of Kay County District No. 3 commissioner. The election will be April 4. All candidates’ responses have been edited for length and clarity.

A longtime farmer and business owner, Kay County resident Jeff Kreger said he hopes to make long-term improvements to county roads and bridges if elected as Kay County District No. 3 commissioner. Here’s what he had to say about his goals if elected.

Q: What would you like voters to know about yourself?

A: I’m a Tonkawa native. I’ve lived in Tonkawa over 45 years. I graduated from Tonkawa High School in 1986 and attended NOC. I’ve owned my own farming and ranching business since 1993. I ran a custom hay operation and custom combining operation. I worked at Jack Bowker Ford in Ponca City for six years and had a lot of good customers in the District 3 area. I also worked at HMT Fabrication there in Blackwell for six years. I’ve been a good supporter of the FFA programs. I’ve been married for over 30 years to my wife, Cathy. We’ve got two grown children, Casey and Logan Kreger. We’ve got two granddaughters. I’m a good listener, good organizer. I’m not the kind of guy that’s going to tell people what they want to hear. I’m going to tell them what I can do to help them. I’m a good problem-solver. I’ve managed my own business and been in business for a long time. I’m 55 years old.

Q: What will be your main objectives if you’re elected as commissioner?

A: When I’m elected commissioner, my main goal – 90% of the miles I travel daily are on county and county roads, dirt roads. That’s where I make my living. Our infrastructure on our roads is in terrible shape. It’s been patched together for several years. I understand money is the issue with that, but it’s time we’re going to have to start doing some real improvements. We’ve got roads with ditches that need to be cleaned, culverts that need to be opened up – basically rebuilding roads, prioritizing our main county roads, starting with those and getting those back into a good, safe way for people to get to and from work and home. I also understand that there’s a lot more to being a county commissioner, as far as running the courthouse, managing the budget of all the offices in the courthouse, and that’s important to me, too. I can handle that, make good informed decisions on that. My main objective for people of District 3 is to get our roads back in shape.

Q: How do you plan to improve county roads and bridges?

A: We’re going to use the material that is available in District 3. There’s some materials we won’t be able to use, but there’s lots of places we can get good river sand. We’re going build so many miles of road per year, clean so many miles of ditches every year. We’re going to set a program when we get started and stick to that so we can prioritize and work through it. We’re going to use the manpower we’ve got. Those guys do a good job. A lot of times, they just don’t have the resources. They don’t have the availability of the right materials to put on the road. I want to try to make that to where we have more availability to those things.

Q: What skills, traits and leadership experience would you bring to the office?

A: I’ve been a business owner, managed budgets, managed employees, been a day-to-day decision maker in my operations. In a farming operation, you have to stay within a budget and do the best you can with what you’ve got to work with. I’ve always been able to do that. I’ve been a good listener. I’ve been on the Oklahoma Farmers Union Policy committee. I have a class A CDL from when I was running my own trucking company. I’m up-to-date on all the DOT laws and all the things it takes to keep county trucks and employees up to compliance with that stuff.

My biggest deal is, I just want to make Kay County great again. I’ve seen Kay County District 3 when we had the best roads around, and I think we’ve got the ability to do it again.

Editor's Note: This article was updated to remove the date of the June general election. The general election will not include the county commissioner's race because only Republican candidates filed.