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FAIRFIELD – Amber Meixner has been co-owner of Fairfield Precast Concrete for the past eight years, and has helped the business to expand its product line during that time.

Meixner has worked in sales and sales merchandising, but her goal for many years was to own her own business. When the business’s former owners Mike and Cindy Scearcy, Amber’s dad and step-mom, announced their intention to sell, Amber and her husband Jim saw a golden opportunity. Jim already had experience working for Fairfield Precast Concrete, and Amber had just obtained her business degree from Indian Hills Community College a short time earlier, and this would be a great way to put it to use.

Fairfield Precast Concrete’s bread and butter is building septic tanks, something in high demand in rural parts of the country that aren’t connected to a city’s wastewater system. Meixner said the septic tanks are manufactured in house, and the business also sells supplies for pipe fittings and sand filters.

In addition to septic tanks, the other thing the business is known for is statuary. The best sellers are eagles and Big Foots, and the business also has a wide variety of other statues such as those with a religious theme, bird baths, fountains and animals. Meixner paints the custom ones herself right there at the shop.

“Years ago, we sold statuary items and we kind of took a break from it,” Meixner said. “A couple of years ago, we added them all back. We had a lot of interest in them, plus it gives me something to talk about beside septic tanks. Painting them gives me a way to de-stress because it’s therapeutic for me.”

Meixner said the best part of her job is getting to interact with customers, and knowing that the company’s septic tanks are protecting Iowa’s water.

“None of us want nasty water out there,” she said. “If we can put out quality products, then we are protecting what we have.”

Meixner said one of the problems of running a business in this day and age is finding enough employees.

“It’s a big struggle, and it is with everybody,” she said. “There doesn’t seem to be enough people wanting to work.”

Meixner was born in Fairfield and raised in Van Buren, where she attended Van Buren County High School. After high school, she worked at Cambridge Investment Research as an office secretary. Then she went to work for Copperfield Chimney, starting in the mail room and later in sales. She moved from there to work in sales merchandising, serving large clients such as Mars and Energizer. This involved traveling the country to document that the client’s products were on the shelf and displayed properly.

Meixner took seven years off to raise children, and when she wanted to return to the workforce, she noticed that a lot of jobs demanded a college degree, and would overlook even experienced applicants if they didn’t have one. She returned to work at Copperfield Chimney and began her search for a business to purchase, and hit upon Fairfield Precast Concrete.

Meixner said there are pros and cons to owning a business, but the pros outweigh the cons. One of the pros is being able to make connections across the state, and that’s what she’s able to do by serving on the Iowa Onsite Waste Water Association Board.

“That’s something that I never thought I’d be a part of when I got into this business, but I do thoroughly enjoy being part of that board and having such a good connection with the whole state of Iowa when it comes to septic people, and the state employees who make the rules,” Meixner said.