All of the seats on the Brown County Council are full again.
New member Gary Huett attended his first meeting as an official council member Oct. 21.
Huett was sworn in late in September. He filled the seat left open when Bill Hamilton resigned after getting a job as an investigator with the Brown County prosecutor’s office.
Hamilton was elected last fall, defeating Democrat incumbent Debbie Guffey. His resignation was announced in August.
Huett has been living in Brown County for about 30 years, in the Cordry-Sweetwater lakes area, where Hamilton also lives.
His background is in education. He has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in aeronautical engineering. He has worked in that field for a number of years as a consultant, and in accident reconstruction from his home for the last 20 years, he told the audience at the Oct. 21 meeting.
Huett also has been doing aerial drone photography for several years for his company, Midwest Aerial Imagery. He’s been flying manned aircraft for even longer.
He’s also experienced at remaining calm under pressure.
In 2012, Huett walked away from a plane crash in Mississippi with nothing but a sore side and shoulder, from hanging sideways in his seat belt in the battered, wingless plane. Huett had been the pilot. He and another man were flying from New Orleans back to Indiana when they had to make the emergency landing. Huett had rented the plan for a business trip, and said the fuel gauges for both tanks were faulty. The other man, of Morgantown, also survived.
Last week, Huett said he had been approached about filling Hamilton’s seat on the council. There are three-and-a-half years left in the term.
“I thought about it, and then I was somewhat reluctant. It wasn’t something I expected to do. But then I was reading (Bible verse) Daniel 6. He was appointed to take a leadership position in the country where he was. It sort of resonated with me, so I decided to step into it,” Huett said.
Before being selected as the replacement, Huett met with Republican Party Chairman Mark Bowman, county council President Dave Redding and a few others. He also attended a council meeting to observe how meetings go.
Bowman said the Republican Party put out a call out for people interested in taking over Hamilton’s seat, but did not receive many responses, which is why the party approached Huett.
“He’s up on things in the county. He’s a smart, intelligent guy. He has some business sense. I think he’s got what it takes to get the job done,” Bowman said.
Huett said he hopes to bring “insight, fairness” and a vision for what will keep Brown County “healthy” in the future.
“To try and expand the tax base so the taxes don’t have to raise up. Just looking at what worked in the past and what will work best towards the future,” he said.
“It’s going to be some interesting challenges.”
Bowman said the party wanted to find someone who can help the county as it sits at a “big crossroads” with the recent sale of many properties belonging to the late Andy Rogers in Nashville and Brown County, budget deficits, raising taxes to pay bills, and a declining population.
“There’s a lot to be done. We couldn’t afford to have a stalemate council member at all,” he said.
