BUCKHANNON — On June 9ᵗʰ, Jack Reger and Councilwoman Pam Cuppari-Bucklew were elected to serve on Buckhannon City Council. At 99 percent reporting, Reger received 531 votes at 15.7 percent. Councilwoman Cuppari-Bucklew gained 523 votes at 15.5 percent.
Councilman-Elect Reger is a prominent businessman in the community, serving as the co-owner of A Governor’s Inn and the Chief Financial Officer for Monco Constructors. As a non-incumbant, he managed to gain more votes than all city council candidates, securing his seat on the council.
“I’m surprised and humbled,” Reger told Mountaineer Journal. “I’m very much appreciative of the people that voted for me and have confidence in my abilities to do what I campaigned to do: that’s to bring a positive change to Buckhannon.”
A core of Reger’s campaign focused on “restoring solidarity” in Buckhannon. Reger addressed the steps that can be taken to promote unity within the community.
“I think it begins with leadership. I think that we need to demonstrate that through our words and actions, that everyone has value. When I was a principal, I always encouraged and told my staff, ‘There are no throwaway students.’ Everyone has worth and everyone has value. If you make that applicable to our community, in Buckhannon and even Upshur County, everyone has value. We’re all created equal. We have to get away from groupthink. We have to look at individuals; yet at the same time, we have to remember the Constitutional rights that are guaranteed to every individual. And I think that stressing those in a positive, meaningful way is the beginning of building unity.”
When asked about his biggest priority serving on council, Reger stated that “everything is a priority.”
“Everything is a priority. There’s nothing insignificant that the city government doesn’t do. We have to be concerned with the needs of the secretarial staff, as well as the gentlemen out at midnight, running the bulldozer, fixing a water leak when it’s -5 below zero. Everything is important, we can’t minimize anything that any of our employees in the city do. At the same time, when we look at community members, every neighborhood is important. Every person is important. Every home is important. We have to look at it in a broad sense.
I would say in addition to that, we also have to look toward the future. What are we leaving for our children? I’m going to be 62 years-old. If the good Lord intends for me to stay here, I would like to have my family with me. I don’t want them to have to leave Buckhannon, or this area, for employment elsewhere. I want my grandchildren to not only grow up here, maybe go to school and come back, and find gainful meaningful employment here and opportunities. So, that’s definitely a priority, just not for me, but for all citizens of Buckhannon. We want opportunities for the future. We have to plan and prepare for the future and have a vision for that. So, I have a lot of priorities. To me, nothing is insignificant. It’s all important.”
For the third city council seat, Shelia Sines and CJ Rylands were both tied at 423 votes each. Final results will be dependant on the outcome of the June 15ᵗʰ canvassing, which will involve processing provisional and additional absentee ballots that were postmarked by June 9ᵗʰ.