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Wesley Hamrick was elected to the Thurmont Board of Commissioners in the town’s January 7 election to fill the seat vacated by John Kinnaird.
Kinnaird vacated the seat after being elected as mayor in the October election. Hamrick will be serving out the two-year remainder of Kinnaird’s unfinished four-year term.
Hamrick, 51, who moved to Thurmont in 1969, is a Catoctin High School graduate, an active member at Weller United Methodist Church and Thurmont Lions Club, and a lifetime member of the Guardian Hose Company. He is employed as a manager for AT&T for several decades and works part-time for Stauffer's funeral homes.
Hamrick previously told the News-Journal, “This my first run for a public office. As far as what I would bring to the board, it would be a fresh face and a fresh perspective, and fresh ideas. I’m a conservative at heart, socially and fiscally.”
“I have high people and communicator skills,” he said. “It’s done very well for me in the business world, working with people at all levels.
Two other candidates had also been approved for running for election to the vacated seat on the board of commissioners, Randy Cubbage, and William Blakeslee.
Cubbage, 57, is a current chairman of the Thurmont Planning & Zoning Commission. The now-former candidate is a native of Winter Park, Florida, and attended Seminole Junior College, Seminole, Oklahoma, and retired after 29 years in 2013 from the U.S. Park Police. He moved to Thurmont 1993.
The January election represented Cubbage’s second run at a commissioner’s seat.
Blakeslee, 67, was a former Thurmont commissioner and former town chief administrative officer. He also had served on a number of town boards and committees, including the parks and planning and zoning commissions, as well as the charter review board.
He was discharged under unknown circumstances as the chief administrative officer in 2013, and did not run for re-election to the board of commissioners in the October election.
Becky Long, Thurmont town administrative assistant, said a preliminary vote count indicated that Hamrick had received 341 votes, defeating Blakeslee with 187 votes, and Cubbage with 60 votes.
Long said that 587 votes had been cast, of which 14 were absentee ballots.
