Miles to fill seat

Alexis Barker
NLJ News Editor
 
After a brief executive session on Monday, Lance Miles was selected over five other candidates to fill the Newcastle City Council seat left vacant by Mayor Pam Gualtieri  Miles will serve the remaining two years of Gualtieri’s term. 
The council selected Miles, Gualtieri said, because they believed he was well educated and gave good answers to questions posed by the council during the Feb. 22 candidate’s forum. Gualtieri said Miles has also been dedicated to the community for some time. 
At the Feb. 22 forum, Miles told the council that he has been a Newcastle resident for 14 years and he and his wife have served with local law enforcement. Miles, who retired from the Weston County Sheriff’s Office about three years ago, said that he is interested maintaining the direction the council has taken. 
“Newcastle has that small-town feel to it with growth opportunity. I see positive things happening,” Miles said. 
“If I can have an influence on that, I would like to do that,” he added.
At the forum, Miles focused on budget concerns amid revenue downturns across the state. He stressed that there are issues that must be dealt with in the city first before the wants are addressed. 
“There are things that we are mandated to take care of and those have to come first,” Miles said. “We need to look at things that are necessary first. I know there are pet projects, not just for the council but for citizens of Newcastle, and we have to deal with those as they come in. But, we have to take care of the priorities and mandates first before we go to anything else.” 
Beyond the priorities, he said, items need to be analyzed and discussed, that the city can’t just cut things with no consideration. 
His experience in budgeting and leadership, Miles said, means that he has knowledge to bring to the table, knowledge that he feels could benefit the council. 
“I have taken management classes, supervision classes, field training as an officer. I know how to work with people, experience working with bad people. I have life experience, experience working with a budget and experience making decisions,” Miles said. “I know that you get a lot more done when you ask people than when you tell them.” 
He acknowledged the need for the city and county to come together and work together in order to address issues facing the county.
“We need to try to work together. That is the best way to go about things. We have to work together on it,” Miles said. 
The other five candidates vying for the seat were Tom Voss, Jared Evick, Karl Lacey, Wolfgang Vanhelsing and Mason Kaiser.