Editor’s note: Seven candidates are standing for election Nov. 7 to three at-large seat on the Woodward City Council. In order to provide our readers with first-hand knowledge of the candidates, their characters and their ideas, ThePerryNews.com presented them with this short series of questions:
1. Kindly outline for us in brief your educational and professional experience. Where did you attend high school and/or college? What sort of work do you do? In other words, what is your background, generally speaking?
2. What particular qualifications do you feel that you would bring to the job of a city councilor? What qualifications do you believe are generally desirable in a city councilor?
3. What has led you to seek elected office? Have you run for or held elected office before?
4. Are there any particular issues of interest to you or of importance to Woodward that have led you to run for office? More generally, what issues do you feel Woodward faces today that are of greatest importance? What direction would you like to see the council take? What direction, if any, do you feel the council should not have taken that it has taken?
5. What are you most passionate about when it comes to the public life of Woodward? the commercial life of Woodward? the social and cultural life of Woodward? What is your vision for the town? Where would you like to see Woodward be in five years? 10 years?
Candidates were encouraged to answer in their own manners. They were under no constraint to answer all the questions or to follow the order given. ThePerryNews.com did not wish to program their answers in advance but encouraged them to feel free. Five candidates replied to the questions.
ThePerryNews.com offers the candidates’ answers to readers directly and unfiltered.
James A. Gough, 13786 Seminole Ave. in Woodward, 515-201-3381, jcgough@minburncomm.net
I am James A. Gough, 56, a lifetime resident of the Woodward community. I am married with two sons and three daughters.
I recently retired after 37 years of public service with the state of Iowa.
I have served the past seven years as a trustee on the Woodward Library Board.
My top three priorities if elected:
- Keep the city moving forward with a vision for not just this year but also where we want to be five years, 10 years and even 20 years from today.
- Make sure the city is financially secure today and in the future. Review all expenditures to assure they are necessary and that they are done in the appropriate manner.
- Improve communication between the city administration and the citizens of the city. Let the people of the town know that their concerns are important to the council and that action will be taken on their issues.
