Five set sights on Troutman board

For the third straight election, the Troutman Board of Aldermen will see at least one new town resident sworn in as a town official as three members will be elected in a five-person field that includes only two incumbents.

Actually, the term “new” should be viewed with some context as one of the challengers seeking election is Paul Henkel, one of the longest-tenured aldermen in Troutman history. He served 24 year years on the board, from the 1977 until 2001, and he now serves on the town’s Planning and Zoning Board and its Technical Review Committee.

In addition to Henkel, incumbents Betty Jean Troutman and Jenny Blevins are running to keep their seats. Two close friends, political newcomers J.T. Jablonski and Jason Major, round out the field.

Here's a roundup:

Paul Henkel

Henkel, a retired sales manager, said that during his nearly quarter of a century on the Board of Alderman, Troutman went from a town with only three employees, almost no building standards and not a single zoning law to one with several departments (including police) and committees.

“But Troutman has always been a uniquely special and warm place that I tell people reminds me of Mayberry,” Henkel said. “And I really enjoyed my time on the board.”

He added that in the decade since he left the aldermen’s dais, the town and the services provided by its government has grown even more.

“And that really is the challenge we have today,” he said. “That is, how to manage that growth but still keep that Mayberry kind of uniqueness.”

Henkel, 64, said that while he feels good about his chances, he knows that anything can happen on election day.

“My dad used to tell me that you never know what people will do when they get in that booth and close that curtain,” he said. “I’ll feel confident I won the day after when the Board of Elections calls me and tells me I won.”

J.T. Jablonski

Jablonski’s main reason for running is similar to Henkel’s decision to get back on the board.

“I’ve only lived here about eight years, but watching the way the town’s been growing I was really afraid there was a chance it could lose its heritage,” he said. “I’m hoping we can have the growth but still preserve the town’s special history.”

Jablonski, 37, said that from a governance point of view, the relationship between the two Iredell-Statesville schools (Troutman Elementary and Troutman Middle) that lie within Troutman’s town limits can be improved.

“There is very little action or connection between the two,” he said. “And that goes both ways. I just think there can be more communication happening between the town and the schools.”

Jablonski, an account manager for a trucking transfer company, added that a more symbiotic relationship can also exist between the town and the business community. And he wants Troutman to find a clear identity.

“I don’t want us to be known as that town halfway between Statesville and Mooresville,” he said.

Jason Major

Major has become something of a fixture at Troutman Board of Aldermen meetings over the past year or so.

“My neighbors came to me as their voice for an issue we had last year and I came to the meeting and presented the problem to the board,” he said. “Then I started coming to meetings and speaking about other issues my neighbors or other people I ran into had and passing that information on to the board.”

Major, an inventory specialist with Lowe’s, said he often takes meals at the Red Light Café, one of the town’s metaphorical water coolers where local folks gather and share opinions and concerns.

“And I listen to what they are saying there,” Major said. “And I speak to the board about some of the things I hear there.”

Major, 36, said he was already doing a considerable amount of legwork to better his town and figured running to be an alderman himself was the next logical step.

“I’ve been putting in the time,” said Major, who has lived in Troutman since 2006. “I thought I might as well put in a little more.”

Betty Jean Troutman

Troutman tells the story about how marginal her relationship is to the founders of the town.

“They say all Troutmans somehow come from the same family tree,” she said. “Well my husband is just a twig on that tree.”

Troutman, 69, said she has “loved” her two terms on the Board of Aldermen.

“I’ve absolutely loved every minute of it,” she said. “I love people and Troutman is still small enough where you know a good many of the people who’ve lived here for a while. But I also love to welcome the newcomers.”

Troutman sees a few specific projects that she wants to see through during the next four years if she wins a full term.

“One of the things I’m hoping for if the economy ever turns around is for us to get more businesses out on Exit 42 (of Interstate 77),” she said. “There is so much that could happen if we can ever get out of this economic mess.”

Troutman said she would like to be on the board when the town’s greenway project expands and joins in with the Carolina Thread Trail. She said she also wanted to see completion of at least the first phase of the Troutman ESC Park, the town’s first athletic field.

She said she is happy that there are more candidates than seats to fill in the town elections.

“It gives people a choice,” she said. “And I think that’s great.”

Jenny Blevins

Blevins, 44, is in her first term on the board. She ran for office in 2007 after leading an effort to have stop signs installed in her neighborhood.

Blevins is an elementary school teacher in I-SS.

Attempts to contact her for this story were unsuccessful.

New terms

For this election only, the top two vote-getters will receive four-year terms. The third-place finisher will serve only a two-year term. Town leaders voted last year to change the rotation in the staggered elections from one that had four candidates in one election and two in the next to one with three in each.
Along with the three at-large Board of Aldermen seats, incumbent Mayor Elbert Richardson is running unopposed for a fourth term.

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Early voting for all municipal elections ends today. Voters may go to the Iredell County Board of Elections office between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. today. Election Day is Tuesday and voters may only vote at their precincts.