GREENFIELD — Serving the public is as natural to John Jester as waking up every morning, he said. It’s just something he enjoys doing, and now he’s closer to another chance to serve.
Jester, 49, Greenfield, easily won his Republican primary match-up against Thomas Lopez, 27, for nomination for the District 2 seat on the Greenfield City Council.
After the final returns were posted, Jester said he’s looking forward to joining the board and taking on some new responsibilities. He still faces a November election, but no Democrats or third-party candidates have yet emerged to challenge him.
"I’m hoping I can bring some of my past knowledge to the council as a member," He said.
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As the former Greenfield Police Department chief, Jester had to design budgets and work within them. He said that experience will serve him well on the council.
Jester also is no stranger to elections: He previously served two terms as county coroner, from 2000 to 2008.
Jester, who now oversees security for Community Health, said heading into the election his top priorities included recruiting and retaining top talent for public safety and other personnel for the city’s workforce, and using city money in ways to attract new business to the area.
One of his top priorities on the city council will be to help solve some of the staff and financial issues facing the city’s fire department.
"One of the things I want to make sure of is as we’re expanding as a city, we’re expanding all of our public safety departments, and that includes our street workers," Jester said.
As for Lopez, a firefighter/EMT, he joined the race with the hope of appealing to younger families in Greenfield who he felt don’t have much of a voice in the community.
Lopez said while he thinks the council has positively served Greenfield over the past few years, it was lacking representation for young families and young adults. Although the election didn’t turn out the way he had hoped, he’s not finished stepping forward to try and be a community servant.
"This doesn’t discourage me, so we’ll just take it day by day and see what happens next," Lopez said.
Both men say they went into the race as good friends. Now that it’s over, nothing has changed.
"He’s a good friend of ours and we have a lot of the same views and similar ideas so I think John is going to do a good job, " Lopez said.
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Greenfield City Council District 2
John Jester;204
Thomas Lopez;105
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In McCordsville, challenger Greg Brewer knocks off incumbent Bryan Burney. Story on Page A8.
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