White Salmon’s newly appointed city councilor is also a candidate for the office in this fall’s General Election.
City Councilors Jason Sabourin, Kimberly Hoppus, Allan Wolf, and Bill Werst appointed three-year resident Donna Heimke to Position 2 to complete the remaining six months of an unexpired 4-year term. The seat came open when first-term Councilor George Rau submitted his resignation from the council at its May 15 meeting. (Rau stepped down from the council because he and his wife were going to move from White Salmon to the Puget Sound region to be closer to family.)
Heimke and former councilor Mark Peppel applied for appointment to the vacant seat. After hearing from both candidates in public, then discussing their qualifications in a 10-minute executive session, the council voted 3-0 for Heimke, on a motion by Hoppus, seconded by Wolf. Werst abstained, but did not state his reasoning.
Sabourin thanked Peppel for his years of service to the White Salmon council and community, and said a factor in the decision was that Peppel did not file as a candidate for the position. To that end, he favored Heimke because of the continuity her selection means to the position.
Heimke filed for Position 2 during the official May 11-15 filing period when no one else did.
“When I heard about the open position, I decided to demonstrate my level of interest to make a difference in my city by looking further down the road than just a few months,” Heimke told The Enterprise last week. “Therefore, I also applied to run for the same council seat in November.”
Heimke will be sworn in at the July council meeting; she was unable to attend the June 17 meeting due to a previous commitment.
Heimke is retired after working 40 years in the education field. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Biblical Studies and a master’s in Educational Leadership, which she earned in Hawaii, through military installation extension campuses.
Heimke married her husband in an Eskimo village in southeastern Alaska, and the Heimkes lived and raised two children in Alaska for 22 years. They subsequently spent eight years in the Islands and another 18 in Pueblo, Colo., before retiring.
Heimke worked as a medical transcriptionist, and as a junior and high school teacher in Alaska. In Hawaii, she taught military GED classes, was a director of a Christian preschool for eight years, and spent her last year there in the Governor’s Office of Children and Youth working with a committee on an Early Childhood Education (ECE) and Care System.
In Pueblo, Heimke was employed by Pueblo Community College as an adjunct faculty member in the Early Childhood Department. She later became coordinator for an ECE resource and referral agency for 11 counties in southeast Colorado. She wrote grants and budgets, supervised a staff of six, and was accountable to the college that held the program’s grants. Heimke also held the position of pilot coordinator for Pueblo for several years as part of Colorado’s effort to create a statewide ECE system. In her last 10 years in Pueblo, Heimke was a local trainer under the college; she trained ECE teachers specifically in the care of infants and toddlers.
“I am familiar with working on collaborative bodies within multiple communities to coordinate ECE systems to meet the needs of young children,” Heimke said.
She believes the skills and expertise she has developed as a lifetime learner and teacher will translate well to her new position as an elected public official.
“After arriving in White Salmon, I have watched my new community make improvements, and have met some wonderful people who demonstrate great pride in their city,” Heimke said.
Now that she is running at a slower speed these days, she can focus on what matters most to her new constituents, the citizens of White Salmon.
“After keeping the above pace for years, I began to realize that I still have something to give to my community, and now I have the luxury and the energy to choose something that will get me involved and meeting new people,” Heimke said.
Heimke also is active in her church and occasionally substitutes as a teacher at Horizon Christian School in Hood River. She and husband, a retired pharmacist, moved to White Salmon three years ago to be nearer their daughter, son-in-law, and three grandchildren.
“I look forward to coming alongside of the others on the council to continue to make White Salmon a great place for families to live, and to provide offerings for all ages,” Heimke said.
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