The University’s own Jayne Pearce, a senior Project Coordinator on campus, will be seen on the ballots during Tuesday’s election as she runs for city council representing Ward 2.
Though having no prior experience serving on the council, Pearce shows a strong sense of passion and pride when it comes to representing her community .
Pearce said she never really imagined herself running in the elections until she heard about the issue concerning the new division of wards throughout the community, because they had been divided up so differently than in the years past, there was a lack of people running to represent them. Pearce, having a strong sense of leadership and commitment to her home, decided to put her name in the running and has been campaigning ever since.
“I’ve really learned a lot since entering the race and have started paying a lot more attention to things,” Pearce said. “I really think we need to start listening to our citizens and I really think we need to get back to the real citizen involvement in this town.”
There are quite a few things that Pearce is concerned about within the community, one of which is the little amount of revenue Laramie gets due to the University’s superiority. Being a University employee herself, she understands just how much money UW obtains as opposed to other businesses in the community. Because UW takes up a large chunk of the property and the interest of what happens in the town, it reduces the amount of income that other businesses can collect. Her hope is to find a balance between the University and the community so that both can benefit equally.
“For the state of Wyoming, we need this to be a signature University,” Pearce stated. “But we can’t have the streets and the services that encompass the University to crumble. We need to seek alternative funding or get our voices heard in Cheyenne because that’s where a lot of funding comes from and as a community, raising taxes is the last thing we want to do.”
If elected, Pearce wants to strive for better communication between the council and the citizens. She finds that communication is one crucial thing that is missing from the council today.
“I will respond to phone calls and emails,” Pearce said. “I just really want to know what people are concerned about and what they want fixed or change. We’re there to listen.”
To Pearce, the people in her community have crucial voices to the matters concerning the well-being of their city. If elected, she wants to be the one who gets their thoughts and feelings across in ways that others have not done before.
