Jefferson City Councilmember Matt Wetrich is running unopposed to fill a vacancy on the city council in next week’s election.

Wetrich was appointed to fill the vacancy after Dan Benitz resigned earlier this year. He works as a naturalist with the Carroll County Conservation Department. He is married with six school-age kids. He is a current member with the Jefferson Kiwanis Club, the Greene Group and the Bringing Opportunities and Optimism to Students and Teachers (BOOST) organization.

Some of the issues he would like to focus on include: establishing an animal shelter to include a dog park, bringing more entities to town for people to utilize, and keep positive momentum with downtown area improvements, along with increasing recycling participation.

“Looking at numbers there’s a way we certainly can save money by having less green (items) going to the landfill because we pay for tonnage and just also out of principle. That’s something I would like to see our City be more active in. We’ve been looking at some of that, and ways to improve that, and maybe get some education and outreach programs going.”

He also believes housing is a top priority as well. Wetrich is running for city council because he wants to see positive improvements continue and see projects from the Vision 2020 plan come to fruition.

He is running for ward two to fill a vacancy, with the term to end in 2019.