By Dan Spalding
News Now Warsaw
WINONA LAKE — Town Council will welcome a new colleague when they convene tonight for a regularly scheduled meeting.
That’s after a Republican caucus chose Jason Zaugg to replace Rick Swaim who stepped down a few weeks ago.
It took five caucus members four rounds before choosing Zaugg over three other candidates in a Republican caucus that had been called to replace Swaim as the Ward 5 representative on the council.
The 45-year-old Zaugg was a late entry into the caucus, having filed paperwork on Friday just two hours before the deadline.
Other candidates included Paul Heaton, Scott Wickens and Sara Hill
A series of tie votes whittled down the choice to one between Heaton and Zaug and Kosciusko County GOP Mike Ragan then announced Zaugg was the winner in the fourth round of secret balloting.
Zaugg has been in the health care sector or twelve years. He works for Community Health Systems and earned his Master of Business Administration from Grace College.
Afterward, Zaugg said he was excited to be chosen and eager to start learning the inner workings of town government.
“There’s a generation of people that have kind of started stepping back from leading the community and I felt it’s time for people in my generation to step forward and really do their part to support the community,” Zaugg said.
Zaugg and the rest of the council will meet at 6 p.m. tonight for a regularly scheduled meeting.
