Jocelyn Blazek beat out five other candidates to be appointed to the Creston City Council for Ward 1, city clerk Lisa Williamson confirmed Monday. The council chooses and appoints members to vacant seats.
“It was nice to see more interest in the position,” Mayor Gabe Carroll, who sat in on some of the interviews, said. “It was a very difficult decision because for the first time since I was on the council we had multiple — more than two — applicants for one seat and they were all more than qualified.”
The letters of interest from the candidates were reviewed by the members of the city council, interviews with each candidate were held — with two members of the council sitting in on all six interviews. Council members were asked to choose a top three. Blazek appeared on all of the lists from the council members and was the top choice on two of them.
“She demonstrated a willingness to dive in and learn,” Carroll quoted from the council members’ recommendations for Blazek
Blazek was chosen for her experience in related activities such as working with funding streams and budgets and her work with service organizations. She works for the Iowa Department of Human Services managing state and federal funds and coordinating child welfare programs in an eight county area. She has been involved in the Mainstreet Corning committee for promotions and economic vitality, was an EMT with Prescott Volunteer Fire Department and served as the township clerk for Union and Adams counties.
Blazek will be officially appointed to the position during the city council meeting 6 p.m. tonight in the council chambers at the Restored Creston Depot.
Applications for city council for Ward 3 are open until 2 p.m. Dec. 10.