PIERCETON - With Gregory Chism filing Wednesday for the vacant Pierceton Town Board seat, there now are two men who will be vying for the position at the upcoming Republican caucus.
Chauncey A. Smith previously filed with Kosciusko County Republican Party Central Committee Chair Mike Ragan.
Board member Eric Trump, who took office Jan. 1 after winning one of the three town board seats in the Republican town convention in August, resigned from the board in May. A caucus to replace Trump will take place at 6 p.m. June 20 in the Pierceton Town Council Chamber, 105 W. Walnut St.
In a telephone interview Thursday, Chism said he was one of the candidates for the town board at the town convention in August.
“I’ve been a resident of Pierceton for 15 years. I’ve been going to the town council meetings for the last six to seven years and was looking for a change and to see if we can get more action than talk,” he said.
Chism, 60, said he would like to see more things happen that would benefit veterans as the town doesn’t have enough going on for them. He said there aren’t enough flags flying in the town when smaller towns like South Whitley have flags all over, especially during certain holidays like Memorial Day.
“I would like to see more of that for our town,” he said.
Born and raised in Swayzee, which is smaller than Pierceton, he said even they have more flags flying than Pierceton.
In his career history, Chism ran several production plants through the years. He was the plant manager at Tri-Lakes Containers in Pierceton before they eventually were bought out and then closed. He has a 28-year history in corrugated paper, which required him to work with budgets.
Asked what he likes about living in Pierceton, he said, “This town has a lot of potential. It has a lot of activities that draw crowds in.”
There are many antique stores in Pierceton. He said he’d like to get something done with the uptown to make it unique.
“I’m willing to look at everything,” he said, acknowledging that people might not always agree and not everyone is going to be happy with every decision that is made.
Chism said he’s the kind of person, though, who will tell you exactly how he sees it.
Precinct committee voters for this caucus, according to Ragan, are precinct committeemen Frank Rhoades and Tom Pletcher and vice precinct committeeman Mike Miner, a proxy by precinct committeewoman Gloria Miner.
The Pierceton Town Board member will be elected by secret ballot of the majority of the members of the voting caucus to fill the vacancy in the office.
Declarations of candidacy are available at the office of Kosciusko County Clerk of the Circuit Court, 121 N. Lake St., Warsaw, and must be filed with Ragan no later than 72 hours (6 p.m. June 17) prior to the start of the caucus.
Eligible candidates must reside in Pierceton, and be a Republican in good standing,
Candidates will be allowed a maximum of three minutes to address the voting caucus.