Ed Rock, right, is sworn in by Kosciusko County GOP Secretary Austin Rovenstine after he was chosen by caucus on Thursday, Jan. 19, at Mentone Town Hall to fill a vacant position on the Harrison Township Advisory Board. InkFreeNews photo by Leah Sander.

By Leah Sander
InkFreeNews

MENTONE — Ed Rock is now part of the Harrison Township Advisory Board.

Rock was chosen by a Kosciusko County GOP caucus on Thursday, Jan. 19, to replace Gerald Weirick, who resigned on Dec. 31.

He actually got to vote in the caucus himself, along with two other precinct committeemen.

Before the vote was taken, Rock and the two other candidates, Ron Buhr and Keith Franks, shared about themselves and why they wished to join the board.

“I have lived in Harrison Township for 41 years. Seven of those years I spent on the Mentone Town Council,” Rock said. “Currently and for the past 40 years, I’ve been a member of the Mentone Volunteer Fire Department. I’ve worked in county government as a department head for the last 20 years and I will be retiring (from being Kosciusko County Emergency Management Agency director) at the end of March.”

“All of this has given me some experiences, experiences with budgets. I have also written and been awarded over $8 million dollars in grants in my prior position. Currently, I am the Harrison 2 Precinct committeeperson and have been ever since Wayne Tombaugh drug me into it,” he continued. “The underlying point I’m trying to make is my willingness to serve the people of Kosciusko County and of Harrison Township and I believe that I have the experience, the skill sets and the desire to do just that.”

Rock told media members after the caucus that he was “looking forward to” serving through the board position.

“I have been involved with a lot of different levels of government and this was one that I haven’t (been involved with), so it’s going to be a little bit of a challenge, but I think what I said in my opening words were that I think I do have the experience and the skill sets to make that happen,” he said.

“It fits into my (soon-to-be) relaxed, retired lifestyle,” he joked.