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Our View: Strosser for county commissioner Sunday Oct 16, 2016 at 12:01 AM Jackson County voters are blessed with two strong candidates for Jackson County commissioner Position 2 in Democrat Jeff Thomas and Republican Bob Strosser. Thomas, manager of Connecting Point Computers, is chairman of the Medford School Board. He has served ably in that capacity, leading the board through a contentious teachers strike in 2014. He says the county's future livability is the focus of his campaign and his reason for running. He advocates sustainable growth, and wants to encourage more small and larger businesses to create more family-wage jobs. Strosser served 16 years on the Medford City Council, four of those years as council president. He also emphasizes controlled growth and development of business opportunities and jobs. Both Thomas and Strosser support the heritage district ballot measure that would create a permanent source of funding for local historical societies. Both candidates stress the importance of affordable housing. And both men say the county Board of Commissioners should be expanded to include five or seven commissioners at lower salaries — a move that would require a public vote to change the county charter. Thomas and Strosser come from different political parties, but have more in common than those labels would suggest. The issues county commissioners address rarely break down on partisan lines. Either candidate would make a capable commissioner, and voters won't go wrong no matter who they elect. But our nod goes to Strosser for a couple of reasons: First, Strosser's lengthy experience in city government gives him a thorough understanding of land-use issues and city-county relations. A retired police commander, he understands public safety issues as well. He developed a reputation on the council as a collaborator, a key skill in local government. Second, Thomas' elective experience is limited to the School Board, where he has excelled. We would hate to lose his leadership just as the school district prepares to deal with the impact of rising costs from the Public Employee Retirement System that will begin affecting school budgets starting next year. If Thomas is not elected commissioner, we hope he decides to stay on the School Board.