Name: Andrew “Andy” Hellenthal
How long resided in Jacksonville: 4 years
Why are you running for City Council and, if elected, what do you hope to achieve?
Jacksonville is a wonderful small town with historic charm and a spirit that provides a great sense of community. We have tremendous assets in our parks and trail systems, as well as in culture and art. My goal is to work and help maintain Jacksonville’s character, enhance and promote access to our community assets while supporting our sense of local independence and uniqueness. By preserving our historical character and supporting locally-owned businesses, we can manage the challenges we face as our community and the number of visitors grow.
My wife Kim, and I visited here a few times before deciding to move into a historic home in Jacksonville. We were drawn here by the beauty of the area and the friendliness of the people. Being lovers of all things outdoors, we treasure the access to our parks and trail systems and being able to walk into town to experience our great shops and restaurants. We also have a love of music, so the Britt Pavilion and concert series played a key part of our decision to move to Jacksonville. I will work hard to keep all these wonderful aspects of our town thriving and to help maintain the charm and independence of our community that attracted us all to live here.
I will work to help preserve Jacksonville and all the great attributes of our community. These are unique times and there are many challenges we currently face that will be become more pressing in the future. Keeping Jacksonville thriving and maintaining our assets and culture while facing challenges related to providing city services (police, fire, water and sewer), emergency management, and growth (residential and tourism) is critical. Using my background in these areas, I want to work to help Jacksonville take on these challenges and continue to thrive.
I hold a Bachelor’s degree in geoscience and Master’s degree in geography/planning. Currently, I work as an environmental consultant with a national engineering firm working with commercial companies, residential developers and industrial clients on projects across the country. The firm I work for also does water, wastewater and stormwater engineering for municipalities across the country and I see a lot of the challenges facing communities like Jacksonville. I was previously a city planner and did emergency management/disaster planning for a local government in a city that had a large number of historically registered neighborhoods and buildings. Using my combined experiences, I will work to support and provide opportunities for our local community resources and businesses, as well as to preserve the things that make Jacksonville special and a destination town.
I place a lot of emphasis of being accountable and transparent. I believe decisions should not be made in a vacuum and if a tough decision is made there should be communication as to what and why that particular decision was made. Understanding that not all decisions will be favored by everyone, being communicative and transparent and presenting the basis of the decision and rationale behind it is important.
Most of us who live here recognize how special Jacksonville is and I want to work to keep that in place while we face the challenges of the future.
What city committee and/or commission posts or other volunteer service work have you done to prepare for this office? What were your contributions and successes and how have they prepared you for this office?
I’ve recently been appointed to City Council to fill the remainder of the term of Jim Lewis’ seat. I’m honored and humbled by this and know I will gain great experience and insight working with the City Council. Honoring and sharing Jim’s commitment to community service, I will strive to be a contributing leader for Jacksonville.
For the past two years, I’ve been serving on the Historical Architectural Review Committee (HARC) and as Vice Chair for the past year. In this role, I’ve supported and worked to maintain the historic character of our town. People visit Historic Jacksonville to get a sense of how life was and how people lived back in its heyday during the gold mining days. I’ve worked to keep that as the central focus of my role on the HARC in support of historic preservation and tourism.
What are the current strengths and/or weaknesses of the current City Council and how would you improve the existing council?
The current council has a great relationship with the City’s administration. That’s an important aspect that benefits the community. I will continue to support a positive and strong relationship with the City. I have both business and government experience as an environmental consultant working to permit municipal, commercial and residential projects, and as a former city planner. This experience will support my ability to keep open communication, positive interactions and help maintain the strong relationship with the City’s administration. I work with cities and towns across the US everyday and understand the benefit of having a strong partnership and a trusted relationship between the city administration and the council.
I bring a background and experience working in private business as a consultant and as a former city planner. I will put my experience working with other historic registered communities and neighborhoods on preservation projects related to seismic and disaster mitigation, along with my work related to environmental consulting and development to work for Jacksonville. There are a multitude of current issues to deal with in providing city services as well as preparing for the future of Jacksonville, I’ll use my experience and effort to contribute to the Council’s and the City’s strategic planning efforts for these future challenges.