news-record.com

Four people are vying for two open seats on the Oak Ridge Town Council.

Roger Howerton is running for re-election against challengers Tony Cooler, Danny Yanusz and Liz Tice.

Cooler, who serves on the town’s Parks and Recreation Commission, said she’s “committed to preserving and promoting the town’s cultural assets while ensuring the town is poised to take advantage of future opportunities.”

Cooler, who works in marketing, has lived in Oak Ridge for five years. She said being a newer resident allows her to be more objective about town issues.

Yanusz said he wants to “help Oak Ridge remain a community that can keep up with the world around it, while maintaining the very unique character that makes it a special place of good friends and neighbors.”

Yanusz, a lighting designer and consultant, is chairman of the town’s building committee and an alternate on the board of adjustment. He said his energy and leadership skills would benefit the town.

Both Yanusz and Cooler have led the Oak Ridge Lions Club and served on the Oak Ridge Anniversary Committee.

Tice said she wants to serve on Town Council to “maintain traditional Oak Ridge values.”

She said she’d bring a willingness to listen and make decisions to the job.

Tice, who has worked as a real estate broker for Allen Tate Realtors in Guilford County for 29 years, said she is in tune with the concerns of Oak Ridge residents.

“My father graduated from Oak Ridge Military Institute in 1923 and my daughter in 1979,” she said. “Oak Ridge is a part of my heritage.”