I have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support I received in the recent campaign. It is affirming, more than anyone can know, and gives me confidence that I can do an effective job on the council.
Early on, I realized that a person running for office is not really an individual so much as the front person for a group of people seeking the same goals. As a council member, I know that the same is true. So, I am counting on citizens to support our work and share their comments about city matters.
Please e-mail me at Kesselus@gmail.com or call me at 303-6335.
Together we will protect what we treasure and build what we need, all for the sake of the community we love dearly.
The new council is off and running and I believe we made a good start on May 12, when Kay, Bill, and I were sworn in and participated actively. The mayor made a humorous, but all-too-true comment that total experience on the council among the six of us equals only three years. Now that we have completed more than a week as a council, I’d like to note that we have nearly a cumulative total of 162 weeks of experience.
Friday, April 3, 2009
My Perspective on the Council
I grew up in a family that believes in service to the community – in the value of giving something back to Bastrop, a town that I love like no other. As a teenager – through activities at church, school, boy scouts, and as a volunteer fireman, I learned that serving others gives me great joy.
Perhaps this is what led me into ordained ministry. In more than thirty years as an Episcopal clergyman, I engaged in a servant ministry, helping the community and my parishioners in every way possible. Providing leadership for Bastrop’s Calvary Church for nearly 20 years, I endeavored to meet the needs of our members. I also made time to become involved in many activities for the benefit of local citizens.
After three years in charge of a large congregation in Waco, I retired from active ordained ministry and returned to Bastrop six years ago because I don’t ever want to live anywhere else. I am fortune to have begun a second career at Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative where I continue to work to help people – in this case our employees – as I provide support in every way I can - offering personal counsel and professional advice, teaching Bluebonnet’s foundation values, helping improve our communications network, and using my experience in the field of leadership to mentor younger supervisors and managers.
Since I was thirteen, working as a page in the Texas Senate, I have been interested in elective office and have for nearly fifty years admired and appreciated generations of municipal and county leaders.
This seems the best time for me to make good on a long-held vision by offering myself to the voters. My motivation is simple – to serve the citizens of Bastrop if I am elected to the council.
I have no axes to grind. I just want an opportunity to do the best I can to serve my fellow citizens. If elected, I will work hard to do that - to give what I have and what I am in fulfilling the trust placed in me. I will seek positive broad-based and far-sighted answers to difficult questions as we work together to improve aging infrastructures, manage growth, maintain reasonable levels of spending, utility rates, and property taxes, and create a vision for an outstanding future.
I will put to use the best of my experience gained while working with organizations, serving on boards and committees, exercising leadership, building consensus, fostering dialogue, managing budgets and programs, and empowering others in shared responsibility.
I will listen with an open mind, consider all perspectives – then reason, think, study, and pray over every decision, in each case ascertaining what I consider the best solution – the greatest good for the greatest number.
Above all, I want to help Bastrop remain the unique city it is – retaining our heritage and values as we grow in size but maintain a high quality of life.
Perhaps this is what led me into ordained ministry. In more than thirty years as an Episcopal clergyman, I engaged in a servant ministry, helping the community and my parishioners in every way possible. Providing leadership for Bastrop’s Calvary Church for nearly 20 years, I endeavored to meet the needs of our members. I also made time to become involved in many activities for the benefit of local citizens.
After three years in charge of a large congregation in Waco, I retired from active ordained ministry and returned to Bastrop six years ago because I don’t ever want to live anywhere else. I am fortune to have begun a second career at Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative where I continue to work to help people – in this case our employees – as I provide support in every way I can - offering personal counsel and professional advice, teaching Bluebonnet’s foundation values, helping improve our communications network, and using my experience in the field of leadership to mentor younger supervisors and managers.
Since I was thirteen, working as a page in the Texas Senate, I have been interested in elective office and have for nearly fifty years admired and appreciated generations of municipal and county leaders.
This seems the best time for me to make good on a long-held vision by offering myself to the voters. My motivation is simple – to serve the citizens of Bastrop if I am elected to the council.
I have no axes to grind. I just want an opportunity to do the best I can to serve my fellow citizens. If elected, I will work hard to do that - to give what I have and what I am in fulfilling the trust placed in me. I will seek positive broad-based and far-sighted answers to difficult questions as we work together to improve aging infrastructures, manage growth, maintain reasonable levels of spending, utility rates, and property taxes, and create a vision for an outstanding future.
I will put to use the best of my experience gained while working with organizations, serving on boards and committees, exercising leadership, building consensus, fostering dialogue, managing budgets and programs, and empowering others in shared responsibility.
I will listen with an open mind, consider all perspectives – then reason, think, study, and pray over every decision, in each case ascertaining what I consider the best solution – the greatest good for the greatest number.
Above all, I want to help Bastrop remain the unique city it is – retaining our heritage and values as we grow in size but maintain a high quality of life.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
My History
Bastrop Community involvement (past and present)
* Boards - Bastrop Library, Opera House, Council on Alcoholism
* Participation - Ministerial Alliance, Main Street Program,
Volunteer Fire Department, Historical Commission
* Chair - School District Long Range Planning Committee
* Chair - Bastrop Sesquicentennial Committee
Educational and Professional
* Graduate of University of Texas at Austin (political science)
* Ordained minister for 35 years
* Served at Bastrop's Episcopal Church for nearly 20 years
* Retired from active ministry after 30 years
* Now working for Bluebonnet Electric Co-op (employee support)
Honors
* Texas Rural Minister of the Year (Texas A & M Extension Service)
* Citizen of the Year (Bastrop Chamber of Commerce)
* Distinguished Alumnus (Seminary of the Southwest)
* Best Book of the Year on Early Texas (Sons of the Republic of Texas)
Personal
* Married (40 years) to Toni
* Two grown daughters and four grandchildren
* Historian (two volumes on Bastrop County and serveral biographies)
* Columnist in the Advertiser - "Bastrop According to Ken"
* Boards - Bastrop Library, Opera House, Council on Alcoholism
* Participation - Ministerial Alliance, Main Street Program,
Volunteer Fire Department, Historical Commission
* Chair - School District Long Range Planning Committee
* Chair - Bastrop Sesquicentennial Committee
Educational and Professional
* Graduate of University of Texas at Austin (political science)
* Ordained minister for 35 years
* Served at Bastrop's Episcopal Church for nearly 20 years
* Retired from active ministry after 30 years
* Now working for Bluebonnet Electric Co-op (employee support)
Honors
* Texas Rural Minister of the Year (Texas A & M Extension Service)
* Citizen of the Year (Bastrop Chamber of Commerce)
* Distinguished Alumnus (Seminary of the Southwest)
* Best Book of the Year on Early Texas (Sons of the Republic of Texas)
Personal
* Married (40 years) to Toni
* Two grown daughters and four grandchildren
* Historian (two volumes on Bastrop County and serveral biographies)
* Columnist in the Advertiser - "Bastrop According to Ken"
One Community with Several Neighborhoods
As Bastrop continues to grow, we will add more neighborhoods and each development, like those already here, will create its own unique interests and character. I want to honor this diversity as a way of building a stronger, unified community.
We are a unique Texas city and the oldest town in Central Texas. The stores and houses in our historic area serve as reminders of what makes this the best place in the world to live. They help all of us remember earlier days when life was simpler, when people spent time on their front porches and had time to create a genuine, friendly community spirit. I believe we all desire to move forward with this same spirit in the 21st century in every neighborhood of Bastrop.
I am committed to addressing individual and neighborhood needs while seeking a unity of purpose for all of us. No matter how large Bastrop grows, I want to help find ways to work together to make sure that life in Bastrop is enriching and rewarding for every citizens, long-time residents and newcomers, people of all locations and ages and backgrounds.
I hope you will consider voting for me in May, and I hope you will share with me your views by emailing me at kesselus@gmail.com or calling me at 303-6335. I would also welcome an invitation to visit with you in person.
We are a unique Texas city and the oldest town in Central Texas. The stores and houses in our historic area serve as reminders of what makes this the best place in the world to live. They help all of us remember earlier days when life was simpler, when people spent time on their front porches and had time to create a genuine, friendly community spirit. I believe we all desire to move forward with this same spirit in the 21st century in every neighborhood of Bastrop.
I am committed to addressing individual and neighborhood needs while seeking a unity of purpose for all of us. No matter how large Bastrop grows, I want to help find ways to work together to make sure that life in Bastrop is enriching and rewarding for every citizens, long-time residents and newcomers, people of all locations and ages and backgrounds.
I hope you will consider voting for me in May, and I hope you will share with me your views by emailing me at kesselus@gmail.com or calling me at 303-6335. I would also welcome an invitation to visit with you in person.
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