New members of council will bring fresh ideas

Talk about it

Two newly elected members recently took their seats on the City Council and we congratulate them, not only on their victories, but also for their willingness to serve their community.

On June 8, Katie Andersen was elected mayor and Ramone Gumke won the council seat vacated by Kelani Parisien. The two are young and enthusiastic about their community. Both are Jamestown High School graduates who chose to return to live and raise their families in their hometown. And voters elected them to bring fresh ideas to the council’s decisions.

They want to see Jamestown grow and prosper. They want to see strategic planning for development which bodes well for the future of our community. There are also a number of infrastructure challenges they’ll be working on with the rest of the City Council. While there are no simple or cheap solutions, this council will have to deal with those challenges, where fresh ideas will be welcome.

Along with the council election, congratulations are in order for the re-elected members of the Jamestown Parks and Recreation Commission. Longtime commissioner Larry Knoblich was re-elected easily, with the largest number of votes. Knoblich has been on the commission since 1988. Congratulations also to Mike Landscoot, who won a third four-year term as did Joyce Heinrich. Heinrich squeaked out the win over Ron Olson, a former commissioner.

Perhaps the most unnoticed part of the June 8 election was the higher number of voters. More than 4,600 people cast their ballots in Stutsman County. Although the total wasn’t a record breaker, it was good to see the increased interest by county and city residents.

(Editorials are the opinion of Jamestown Sun management and the newspaper’s editorial board)

Tags: opinion, editorials, mayor, council