The Pulaski County Republican Party held a caucus on Monday to select a replacement for a vacancy on the Winamac Town Council.
A spot was opened following the death of Winamac Town Council President Kenneth McFarland earlier this year. Since that time, Tommy Murray has been acting president of the council.
Selecting a new candidate to fill the role took place earlier this week. During the caucus Alvin Parish was selected to join the Winamac Town Council at their next meeting. He says he’s served on the board previously and was close with the person he’s now replacing.
“I was on the Town Council when hired him as a Town Manager I think in 1989 and I felt it was a tribute to him to try to finish out his term,” says Parish. “I’ve been interested in the town for years. But after 12 year’s I thought I’d back out and let somebody else run it for a while.”
He will finish McFarland’s term on the council through 2018.
According to Pulaski County Clerk Christi Hoffa, Parish received a majority of the votes needed to be elected to the seat. He and one other candidate for the office filed to run in the Republican caucus for the seat.
Parish says that although he’s previously served, it has been some time since he last served and considers himself relatively new at the job. He says he does not have an agenda heading into the seat while he’s serving the remainder of the term.
“Hopefully there won’t be anything that will be that demanding right away where I won’t have time to get some more input into it,” says Parish. “I don’t like to jump into anything without knowing what’s going on a little bit. I just haven’t been up to speed on what they’re doing right now.”
Community growth was brought up as among the long-term goals, according to Parish.
He will begin serving in the seat at the Winamac Town Council’s August meeting.
