After 17 years of serving on the Tofte town board, Paul James said enough was enough. The current township board chair announced his resignation two weeks ago from his position. Shockwaves went through the West End community when it was learned that James would no longer lead the township board. As a tireless leader who strongly advocated for his community, James will be missed.
When reached at his home, James said, “There’ so much going on in the township right now and I just didn’t feel like I had the energy, time or commitment it takes to serve the public. The town deserves someone who has the energy and drive it takes to do the township’s work, and I just don’t have that right now.”
James has a long volunteer history of serving the township in a variety of capacities. He was in the Tofte volunteer fire department for 14 years and served 14 years as the president of the Fire Relief Association. He served two terms as president of Zoar Lutheran Church, was president of the old golf course committee, twice served as president of the Timber Wolf Sportsmanship Club and has worked on significant issues concerning the Birch Grove Community Center, Birch Grove School, and township park.
“One reason I resigned when I did was to give someone else time to sign up for the next election,” said James. “They will need to sign up in December to be on the ballot. This will allow someone 30-35 days to make a decision to run or not to run.”
Over the years Paul said he enjoyed working with a lot of different people on a lot of different boards, and he will miss serving with the current board members, he said.
“Really, it was just time for me to step back and take care of my own mental and physical health. Serving the public has been great, but after awhile it started to take a toll on me. My energy resources are gone. It’s time for me to rest and recharge my batteries. It’s been an honor to serve the people of Tofte. Now it will be someone else’s chance to step up to the plate.”
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