Love Of Winona Drives Heather James To Town Council Candidacy
Love Of Winona Drives Heather James To Town Council Candidacy
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
Love Of Winona Drives Heather James To Town Council CandidacyEven though Heather James is from another county originally, she’s grown to love Winona Lake.
It’s that love that helped her decide to seek the Ward 4 seat on the town council in a 2017 caucus and a driving force for her to seek re-election this year. As of Thursday, she is unopposed.
A Republican caucus on Jan. 10, 2017, elected James to the Ward 4 seat on the town council. She replaced Robert Swanson and was uncontested. Swanson resigned in December 2016 because he moved out of the district.
“When the position came open, I had a couple of people ask if I would be interested in it. And, it wasn’t something I had considered before, but I started doing some research and really considered it,” she said.
“I thought, ‘I love Winona Lake. We’re raising our family here. It’s an opportunity for me to give back and be a part of the process making decisions for the town.’ So I said yes.
“I decided to run again because I’ve enjoyed being on the council and learning more about the community and how decisions are made, what kind of concerns citizens have.”
James, 44, grew up in Miami County, graduating from North Miami High School. She earned a degree in health science from Ball State University in Muncie. After working in the health field a few years, she and her husband moved their family – which includes three children – to Kosciusko County in 2000 because of her husband’s job.
“We’ve been here long enough to definitely call it home,” she said.
She stayed at home for a while with the children and was active in various organizations. A few years ago, she went back to work and is currently working at a dental office.
In seeking re-election, James said there was no specific issue that she wanted to help address over the next four years.
“It’s the whole thing. I’ve only finished that term, which is only two years, which I didn’t really feel like was a lot of time to be able to make changes or make a difference. It allowed me to become familiar with the process and the concerns, and then moving forward being able to really make an impact,” she said.
Leaders have been wise in putting together a comprehensive plan for the town, she said. They’re “looking at growth and looking at still protecting Winona Lake and what makes it unique. So I think that was a wise decision to put something into place and to be able to look at all the options and see which one works best, which one is a best fit for Winona.”
After joining the council, James said some department heads approached her and invited her to learn about what their departments do, which she did and learned more about them. Other departments she already had some background information on, such as the parks department, which her family frequents.
“I just would want everyone to be able to appreciate what we as a community have and respect that and know that not everyone is that fortunate,” she said.
Like other Winona Lake candidates seeking election or re-election this year, James said she was impressed that the community doesn’t have any debt.
“That is very rare. I think that’s due to the clerk-treasurer and the department heads being respectful of their budgets, and the money that Winona has. I look forward to that debt-free attitude and work to continue,” she said.
“I have enjoyed being on the council and being a part of that decision-making process. I would want people to know that I’m approachable with their concerns. Some topics are brought up at council meetings ... but I’ve also had individuals email me with concerns, and most of those concerns either I can answer or direct to the appropriate person. ... I do care about their concerns and want to help those issues get resolved in the best possible way,” James said.
