Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Bryon Wells filed Monday for the seat on the Clay Township Advisory Board that came open with the July 18 death of member Donald Morris.
The deadline to file a declaration of candidacy with Kosciusko County Republican Party Central Committee Chairman Mike Ragan was 6 p.m. Monday. The caucus to fill the position will be at 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 6 at the Claypool Lions Building.
Explaining why he decided to throw his name into the running, Wells, 70, who lives on CR 200W, about three-tenths a mile north of Claypool Elementary School, said, “We had a meeting the other night and Spencer (Bartlett) was there, the trustee, talking about how no one had signed up for it and what have you. I kind of sat there and thought, you know what, I’m not doing it for any glory or anything. You don’t make a ton of money. I don’t have any desire to move up to Congress or anything like that, but I just thought, I volunteer with the Claypool Fire Department, since I retired from Zimmer. I do a lot of activities that are volunteer, and I thought, you know, I’m going to try it.”
He said sitting on the board doesn’t take much time as it’s an advisory board, and they maybe meet six times a year. He thought it would be another way for him to help the community.
“I’m not completely sure about all the changes that are going to happen, but there are going to be changes with the way the finances are done and all that, so there’s going to be some opportunities to do some things right, and I just think it’d be kind of nice to be a part of that,” Wells said.
He’s never served in an elected position before. The only job close to a government position he’s had was teaching industrial arts.
Wells has lived in Kosciusko County since 1985. He taught at the high school for one year because they wanted someone to rebuild the vocation machine shop. He then ended up becoming a machinist for Zimmer and got out of teaching after seven years, working in the orthopedic industry for a little over 30 years.
If he’s chosen by the caucus Thursday for the seat, he said he will seek re-election in the November general election.
“If it happens and he puts me on it, and I get re-elected, I will serve for the next four years,” Wells stated.
Divorced since January 2007, he said he has a daughter and a grandson.
Wells was a “military brat,” and was born in Germany when his dad was stationed with the U.S. Army over there. He considers Indianapolis home as that’s where they lived after his dad retired from the Army in 1967. His biological mother was from Clinton, Ind.
Wells graduated from Lawrence Central, and earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Ball State University.
