The Jacksonville City Council welcomed its newest member last night.
Brett Henry was appointed to the council to the vacant Ward 4 alderman seat. Henry replaces Mike Wankel who resigned from the council in January to take a vacant seat with the Morgan County Commissioners.
Henry says he’s been thinking about a city council seat for awhile now: “I’ve got strong roots in Jacksonville. I’m not from Jacksonville originally, but I know that we have a strong future in Jacksonville. I’m hoping to do what I can to improve it. It’s something that I’ve been thinking about for awhile now. The last time the Ward [seat] was up [for election], I was thinking about it but I didn’t take it back then. I didn’t talk to Andy [Ezard] back then, but once Mike [Wankel] took his new position and my ward seat was up again, it made me start to think about it again, so I called the mayor.”
Henry says he’s looking to the future of Jacksonville. By trade, Henry says his background is in information technology as he currently works as Assistant Director Of Information Technology at Central Laborers Pension in Springfield. Prior to that, he was a system administrator at the former Passavant Area Hospital and an I.T. Manager at Benton & Associates.
Henry says he’s more of a listener than a talker, and hopes that skill help bring new ideas to the table in fixing problems in the city: “I was basically writing down notes tonight. Basically, I wanted to spend most of this meeting listening. I’m new to the game, and that’s how I tend to take a lot of things – just listen, speak up when I need to or when I’m spoken to, but generally I like to listen and think things through before I make any kind of decision.”
Henry says he is familiar with some of his fellow alderman and looks forward to hearing from them and his constituents to address problems and move the city forward.