Knee surgery sidelines county commissioner

• Jerry Fischer

Jerry Fischer

Talk about it

Absent Davison County Commissioner Jerry Fischer said this week that he plans to eventually return to work.

Fischer missed his fourth consecutive commission meeting Tuesday. No commission meeting was held Sept. 25, but he missed the Oct. 2, 9 and 16 meetings.

Fischer, 65, had his left knee replaced Sept. 13. He said extensive rehabilitation work is the reason he is missing meetings.

“I do three days a week (at a facility),” Fischer said. “And I do rehab at home. When the meetings are being held, I’m doing rehab.”

He said that is why he cannot take part in the meetings by telephone. But Fischer said he will return to the meetings when he adjusts to the new knee.

“When I am done with my rehab, you bet,” he said. “This rehab is really intense.”

No date was provided for his return to the commission. He is still being paid a commissioner salary of about $1,100 per month.

Fisher said he was struck by the fact that none of the other three commissioners had checked with him to see how he is doing since he had the surgery. No one has called, he said.

Fischer, who is completing his third term representing District 2 on the commission, is the sole Democrat on the board. He served two terms as chairman.

He initially announced plans to run for a fourth term but then dropped out of the race April 3.

“I have thought about this for some time now,” Fischer said in a written statement issued at the start of a commission meeting that day. “In everyone’s life, there is a time when there are uphill battles you cannot overcome.”

He also referred to “the old District 2” in the statement. The commission redrew boundaries in 2011, with Fischer being a persistent critic of the outcome.

On June 7, he wrote a guest column in The Daily Republic saying the county was headed in the wrong direction with the purchase of the former Central Electric building, which the county will use for commission meetings and county health nurse offices.

Randy Reider, a Republican, was the only candidate for the District 2 seat and will take office in January.

Fischer, a retired Mitchell fireman, said he will remain the chairman of the Local Emergency Planning Committee.

“I’m not going away,” he said. “I’m going to be involved with stuff.”

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