Chesterfield Councilman Broke Leg Campaigning

Longtime Chesterfield City Council member Barry Flachsbart broke a leg campaigning for re-election Thursday, when he slipped on wet magnolia petals, he said.

The venerable councilmember had emergency surgery at St. Luke's Hospital that same night after learning he broke two bones in his left leg. He can't walk on it for eight weeks, he said. 

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Flachsbart, 73, said magnolia petals are waxy, and it was wet on the driveway of a resident who wasn't even home, and returning to his car—he took a header.

The determined campaigner saw the incident as a setback in his schedule. He's running for his 11th term in office, Ward 1. A term is two years.

"This will certainly be a problem for my plans for continuing the door-to-door campaigning, but we’ll have to find alternate ways to get the message out," Flachsbart said in an email Tuesday.

He faces challenger David Arbogast in the April 3 election to keep his Chesterfield city council seat, after 20 years of public service.

Flachsbart is a university professor of Information Science and Technology at Missouri University of Science and Technology (at Rolla.) He will teach from his home via distance learning to complete the semester, Flachsbart said.

Flachsbart also said he would come to Monday's city council meeting in a wheelchair.

The councilman said he was pleased with the swift response of emergency services after his fall. His wife is a retired nurse and once she saw the nature of the break, she opted to call 9-1-1, Flachsbart said.

Here's Flachsbart's bio from Chesterfield City website:

Barry Flachsbart was one of the initial members of City Council, first elected in April 1989. He had been the leader of Citizens for Chesterfield at the time petitions for the City's incorporation were submitted. In the early days of the City, he was instrumental in establishing the City's own Police force.

He has served as chairman of several of the Committees of the City Council and was Mayor Pro Tem prior to becoming Acting Mayor following the departure of John Nations on October 18, 2010. He chose not to run for Mayor in 2011 and has returned to serving as Ward I Councilman.

Besides police protection, his special interests have been in proper zoning to ensure protection of neighborhoods.

He is presently a Professor in the Information Science and Technology program within the Business and Information Technology Department at the Missouri University of Science and Technology (formerly University of Missouri-Rolla-UMR).

Dr. Flachsbart earned his undergraduate degree at St. Louis University in 1960 and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees at Stanford University in 1961 and 1966, respectively.

He began teaching on an Adjunct basis for UMR in 1966, while employed by McDonnell Company (later McDonnell Douglas). His career at McDonnell Douglas included roles as Director, Computer Sciences; Director, New Products; Director, Advanced Technology Exploration; and as founder and head of the Applied Mathematics and Computer Science Research Laboratory.

In 1995, he joined Union Pacific Technologies as Director of Emerging Technology, later serving as Vice President, Information Services for Skyway, a Union Pacific subsidiary and then as Vice President, Application Development for Transentric, another Union Pacific company.

In 2003, he joined UMR on a full-time basis. He was Chair of the Information Science and Technology Department until 2007, when the department was merged into Business and Information Technology.

He has been the lead contributor to articles on Computer-Aided Design & Computer-Aided Manufacturing in the Encyclopedia of Computer Science.

He and his wife, Laverne, have lived in the area that is now Chesterfield since 1966. Their four children attended Parkway schools, which they feel prepared them well for continuing their education.