Keith Claassen will be appointed to the Etna Green Town Board at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Kosciusko County Republican Central Committee Chair Mike Ragan confirmed Monday.
Claassen was one of three people who filed for the position, but Ragan said Claassen was the only one with experience and who met the criteria. “He seemed like the best choice,” Ragan stated.
The other two candidates did not meet the requirements to be a candidate for the council seat, but they did file. Ragan did not provide the names of those two candidates.
In the November general election, Claassen received the fewest amount of votes of the four candidates for the three council seats. Incumbents Republican Jason Hanes and Libertarian Susan Klinefelter received 43 and 55 votes, respectively, while Republican Heath Roberts received 50 votes. Claassen received 35 votes.
On Aug. 7, Hanes resigned from the board effective immediately. Since fewer than two persons would be eligible to participate in a precinct committeemen caucus to fill the vacancy, Ragan appoints a qualified individual to the office for the remaining unexpired term. Eligible applicants for the position had to be residents of the town and Republicans in good standing.
In a telephone interview Monday evening, Claassen, 64, said he previously served on the town board for about 20 years, beginning in 2004. He was appointed to the board when Andy Cook stepped down to become an employee of the town.
“I’ve got some experience with the council, what they can do, what can be done, what can’t be done,” Claassen said.
Asked why he filed for candidacy this time, he said when he ran for the town board again in 2023, less than 60 people turned out. Since the first of the year, people have come up to him to talk about the town, thinking he was still on the town board and were surprised to learn he wasn’t. People told him they didn’t turn out and vote for him because they didn’t think they needed to, he stated.
Once on the town board, one of the priorities, he said, is for the town to hire another employee who is certified in water and/or wastewater to help Superintendent Brian Long. Long is on call 24/7 for 365 days a year and is unable to take vacation time, Claassen said. If the town loses Long, all of the utility rates will end up going up and that’s not good for anyone, he said.
“He’s an excellent guy and we don’t want to lose him. That’s the biggest thing. We have three utilities in town and each has to make enough money to run properly. They need to be managed properly,” Claassen said.