WINONA LAKE – The town of Winona Lake now has a full town council as Barry Andrew won a caucus Monday.
Andrew was the only person that filed for the vacant position after Heather James resigned from the Ward 4 position in order to start the clerk-treasurer position earlier than expected.
James was voted into the clerk-treasurer position through a caucus Oct. 24 to finish out the remainder of Laurie Renier’s term as clerk-treasurer this year. Renier resigned Oct. 10 effective immediately, citing a number of reasons.
James, the Winona Lake Council vice president representing Ward 4, won the Republican primary in May over Renier for clerk-treasurer and didn’t face any opposition for the general election. Because there were are no contested races in Winona Lake this fall, there is no election Tuesday for the town.
Before the clerk-treasurer caucus Oct. 24, James resigned from the town council as required. With her resignation, another caucus was scheduled for Monday to name James’ replacement on the council for the remainder of 2023.
Andrew ran unopposed this year for the Ward 4 seat.
Ballot counters Monday were Steve Foster and Jill Serbousek. The precinct committee persons who participated in the caucus were Lynn Howie, Wayne 1; Bruce Shaffner, Wane 3; Mark Nunez, Wayne 4; and Steve Hollar, Wayne 10.
Monday, Andrew said he was looking forward to serving the town and using his skillset to do so. After being voted to the position, he thanked the caucus.
Andrew is the director of Kosciusko County Community Corrections.
Andrew said he thinks the leadership skills he’s developed over the last 20 years and the budget experience he’s had will carry over to the town council position.
This is Andrew’s first elected position. He decided to run for the position as his duty to serve Winona Lake.
Andrew said he has a family history of serving. Andrew’s grandfather, Porter Polston, served on the Warsaw Common Council for a number of years and his uncle, Randy Polston, has served on the Warsaw School Board for years. Andrew said he wanted to continue that history.
He said he’s fine with getting started earlier than expected. It’s just an opportunity to get started sooner and working on getting things moving in the right direction.
When asked what he hopes he can bring to Winona Lake now that he is on the town council, Andrew said he thinks everyone knows the town has had a rough couple of months. He wants to giving people respect and dignity. He also wants to make sure the town council leads by example and that the council represents the people that elected the members well. He also said regarding some of the struggles the town has seen, he wants to help make sure those issues are fixed in a timely manner and getting procedures and policies in place where the town can move in the right direction.
He and his wife, Joye, have been married for 24 years and they’ve lived in Winona Lake for all but five of those years. They have five children.