Hall, Trump File For Pierceton Town BoardTwo men who have known each other for years and are married to sisters filed Wednesday for election to the Pierceton Town Board.
Both are long-time Pierceton residents and Republicans.
Glenn E. Hall, 63, and Steven Eric Trump, 51, filed for two of the three seats at the Kosciusko County Clerk’s Office. Gordon Baker and Chauncey Smith previously filed. Currently serving on the board are Matt Brubaker, Janet Castle and Tom Barker.
Hall, who is employed with Stillwater Hospice, said he’s been a resident of Pierceton for over 35 years.
“I wanted to run. I just feel like it’s time for me to get more involved in my community, number one. Number two, there are a lot of things happening around us and I want Pierceton to have strong leadership and a strong voice,” he said, particularly as the state looks at the future of U.S. 30.
“I want to make that sure we can preserve our family-friendly environment and, at the same time, we want to help our businesses be successful. We’d love to grow our business base in Pierceton, keep it a very family-friendly environment, but we want to help our businesses that are there be successful,” Hall stated.
This is the first time Hall has ran for elected office. He said he knows he has a lot to learn about being an elected official, but he thinks that sometimes can be helpful because he has no preconceived notions.
“I just know what I want for our town. I think it’s consistent with what our town wants,” Hall said. “I’ve been a member of the Chamber, and as pastor of Harvest Community Church, our church is a member of the Chamber. We want to be community-minded and involved in the community.”
He said he hears a lot of things from members of the community and believes he can be a good voice for them.
A Warsaw graduate, Hall’s own two children went through Whitko schools. His wife, Teressa, is an administrative assistant for Whitko Community School Corporation. He and Teressa have five grandchildren.
Trump said he decided to run for the Pierceton Town Board because “I just want to build on the opportunities that Pierceton has, being right on 30, close to Warsaw, there’s a lot of businesses I believe we can continue to bring into town. Build that, maybe add some family restaurants, too.”
He said he wants to help get the town cleaned up in some areas.
A 24-year Pierceton resident, Trump said his family found a picture of a blacksmith from 1905 who was a Trump and his family “has been here for 200 years.”
This is not his first time serving in an elected position. Trump, who is an accountant for a South Whitley company, was on the Whitko School Board for four years.
He said he wants to keep a steady tax rate for the town.
“We don’t want to see taxes go up a lot in any way, and just continue to grow the town with whatever opportunities we have,” Trump stated.
His wife, Angela, is the sister of Glenn’s wife Teressa. Angela works at Safe-Way Door and they have three adult children, two who work in Warsaw. His son is a U.S. Marine Reserve and going to Ball State University.
“I’ve known Eric literally his entire life. His parents were my youth leaders at my church when I was growing up, so we’ve been acquainted and then we both married into the same family,” Glenn said. “But, the fact is, we have similar values, similar background, and with both of us being ministers and pastors, we just have a real passion for the heart of the community.”
Filing for the general elections for the small towns of Burket, Claypool, Etna Green, Leesburg, Mentone, North Webster, Pierceton, Sidney and Silver Lake ends at noon Aug. 1 for Republicans, Democrats and Libertarians.
If there is a contested race within a party, the party will hold a convention to make a selection from those candidates. If there is a contested race between the parties, the town will have an election in November. Some towns won’t have an election at all because there is only one candidate for each open seat.
