Local optometrist and at-large Warsaw City Councilman Joe Thallemer is running for mayor.
Filing for the seat begins Wednesday, and Thallemer said he plans on filing then.
Thallemer established Joseph M. Thallemer Vision Care Center in 1980.
Thallemer said if he is elected mayor, he plans on continuing his work in the optometry profession in addition to his duties as mayor.
"If I am elected as mayor I want to emphasize economic development, and next year with budgets being tight I want to continue to hold the line by keeping an eye on budgets and revenues," Thallemer said.
Thallemer is currently serving his third term as Warsaw city councilman at-large, having first been elected in 1999. He is in his fourth year as council president.
Thallemer was first asked to serve the city in 1995 by then-mayor Jeff Plank, who appointed him to the Warsaw Plan Commission. Thallemer served for 13 years, the last eight as plan commission president.
In 2003, as chairman of the Curbside Waste Task Force, he initiated citywide curbside recycling. He also served on the Warsaw Traffic Safety Commission and the Kosciusko County Solid Waste Management District board.
Thallemer also is currently in his third year as a member of both the Warsaw Board of Public Works and Safety and the Board of Aviation Commissioners. He is in his fifth year as a member of the Deer Task Force.
"I have always approached my public service for the Warsaw community as simply trying to do what is best not only for the short term, but over the long haul as well," Thallemer said.
"I have also learned along the way that it is not always that simple. With the experience I have gained, and the commitment I have to this community, I would be honored to serve the citizens of Warsaw as their mayor."
Thallemer first moved to Warsaw in 1972 from South Bend. He has spent the last 31 years with his wife, Jill, raising his family of four children and building his optometry practice.
Along the way he has been involved in many church and school activities with his family, is a 31-year member of the Warsaw Breakfast Optimist Club, and spent seven years on the local YMCA board.
