After six rounds of voting, the at-large County Council seat was decided Wednesday night by a Republican Caucus. The seat was vacated when County Council President Bob Sanders passed away at age 69.
Of the seven candidates running, Kim Cates was chosen. She tells News Now Warsaw it was a tough battle.
“I was surprised, actually, of the outcome because I was intimidated. We had good people with very good qualifications,” she explains. “But that’s okay– competition makes us better.”
Immediately after being selected for the role, Cates says she looks forward to contributing.
“I’m going to have a huge learning curve because of this particular board, so I need to make sure I get in there and do a lot of reading and researching,” she says. “Even though I’ve got like 30+ years of experience on boards, every board is different.”
Cates served five years as a member of the Turkey Creek Township Advisory Board and as the board president to the Turkey Creek Township Fire Territory. For nine years, she served as the Republican precinct chair for Turkey Creek Township 2.
She defeated 6 other candidates: Tressa Nichols, Josh Finch, Harold Jones, Paul Finley, Brett Harter, and Jon Fussle.
Kosciusko County Republican Chairman Mike Ragan tells News Now Warsaw there were 69 people eligible to vote in the caucus made up of precinct committeemen. 62 of those were in attendance, with 60 voting in the final round.
Kim Cates will be sworn in at the County Council meeting Thursday night.
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