The Nashville Town Council is gaining two new faces in January.
Incumbents “Buzz” King and Arthur Omberg, who’ve each served for 16 years, will be replaced by political newcomers Nancy Crocker and Anna Hofstetter.
Incumbent David Rudd won his re-election bid, coming in second to Hofstetter in the four-way race for two at-large seats.
Crocker and King ran in District 1; Hofstetter, Omberg, Rudd and Mike “Possum” Roberts were the at-large candidates.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Hofstetter and Crocker will join two other incumbents, Alisha Gredy and Jane Gore.
Since the council expanded to five members from three in 1998, never have more than two women served at the same time.
“I’m excited that our children — girls and boys — now have some strong, female role models,” said Hofstetter, a 30-year-old single mother of two.
She balanced her preschooler on her hip in the midst of her victory party on election night.
“I feel like I’m in a dream,” she said. “… I gave this campaign my best shot and I told my kids if I win — if we win — or if we lose, we’re still going to shake the hand of whoever wins and move on. … I’m really in shock that I won, especially since I’m a first-time candidate and I’m a very young person, and I’m a woman. I’m very surprised.”
Hofstetter, a bartender and server, felt that her grassroots, door-knocking campaign was what delivered the victory, and she thanked her “tribe” for their support.
“Now I’m very excited about the future. I can’t wait to start working with the other people in the community to get things done for the town,” she said.
Rudd, who runs a mowing business, has served on the town council since 2014; before that, he was on the county council for 16 years. He didn’t put out yard signs or participate in voter forums or questionnaires, but he still gathered the second-highest total of votes in the close four-way race, with 26 percent to Hofstetter’s 26.4 percent.
Omberg received 24.4 percent of the vote and Roberts received 23.2 percent.
Omberg has served the town in one capacity or another nearly continuously for about 30 years. After leaving the Nashville Police force, he went back to school to finish his teaching degree, then was elected to the town council in 2001.
“I’m excited to see new eyes and ears and ideas that will be for the council. I think that’s always a good thing,” he said.
He decided to enter the political arena on the advice of a professor. “She said if you want to make a difference and change things in this world, you have to get into politics, because that’s really where people’s lives are affected. She was meaning that toward education, but … that really motivated me. … It’s better than sitting back and complaining.”
He advised the new members to “take your time to find your voice” and to ask lots of questions.
When asked what he was proud of from his 16 years on the council, he answered, “Absolutely nothing.
“To say that I’m proud of something would mean that I would have to take credit for it … and I’m only one individual, and I would never take credit away from the town employees who show up day in and day out, and the countless hours that committees and volunteer boards put in,” he said.
“I guess I’m proud to be part of all those people who put in time, but I will not take a speck of credit for all their work that they do.”
He said he has no plans to run again, but he’d welcome the chance to serve on committees if there’s ever a place for him.
Forming a new citizen committee is one of the ideas Crocker has for her first term the council.
In the District 1 race, Crocker earned more than two-thirds of the vote over King.
“I did not expect the margin,” Crocker said. “What I expected was that either people were going to vote for a change, or they were going to vote for a name and a person, and they obviously voted for a change.”
She believes that her message of citizen participation and collaboration resonated with voters, and she’d like to further explore that idea.
“I’d like to form some type of committee — not like an official group, but like an advisory committee — that when something comes up in town council, when we’re having to make a decision, that I can pull that group together and say, ‘Hey, you guys, what do you think?’” she said.
“And that comes from all parts of the community. It comes from business owners … locals that wish the tourism would go away; I want people that just live in the county and maybe work in Bloomington that are just maybe concerned about what’s going on in our town to be on that group — because we’re all in this together. … We have to work together. We’re too small to be separate.”
Crocker believes the biggest issue facing town is that it hasn’t figured out a mission and vision.
She also serves on the Maple Leaf Strategic Planning Committee, working out details regarding the under-construction, county-owned performing arts center. The project has been scrutinized by locals who are concerned about its potential impact on them, such as increased traffic.
“I guess my question to people is, ‘If making our place an environment that people can live and work in … and have a life that they don’t have to work three jobs … if that causes you a little inconvenience, are you still against it?” she asked.
She also expects the council to have to decide whether or not it’s going to hire a new town manager/economic development director to replace Scott Rudd, who took a job with the state earlier this fall. She doesn’t believe the town needs a “manager” because she’s confident in the abilities of the people who work at Town Hall, but she does see the need for a “town representative.”
Crocker moved to Nashville in 2013 to run a bed-and-breakfast and vintage shop. She’s currently president of the Nashville Arts & Entertainment Commission.
King is a Nashville native who grew up among Brown County icons like famed photographer Frank Hohenberger. His father, Fred King, was a county historian.
King was unable to be reached for comment; he had a heart attack the Saturday before the election.
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”How You Voted” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Nashville Town Council
District 1
Nancy Crocker: 400
Charles “Buzz” King: 186
At large
Anna Hofstetter: 289
Arthur Omberg: 267
Mike “Possum” Roberts: 254
David Rudd: 285
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