2 seek vacant Havre council seat

Two people have submitted applications to Havre City Council for the vacant Ward 2 seat.

Kevin Zoren and Karen Jean Swenson have written letters to City Council asking to be considered for the position that was vacated by Janet Trethewey’s resignation.

Appointment of a new Ward 2 council member is on the agenda for today’s 7 p.m. meeting at city hall.

In her letter to the council, Swenson, a retired principal of Lincoln-McKinley Primary School, said she believed that council was responsible for “adopting resolutions and ordinances which allow the citizens of Havre to enjoy a better standard of living.”

“The council acts as an overseer of operations, leaving the day to day completion of duties to city employees,” Swenson wrote to council.

“Havre has been my home for fifty-three years,” she wrote. “We raised our family here and have close ties to the community,” she said. “Serving on the city council would give me the opportunity to ‘give back,’” she wrote.

She has bachelor’s and master's degrees from Montana State University-Northern and a master’s degree in elementary education from Montana State University in Bozeman. She taught or was in administration at the Havre Public Schools from 1971 to 2008.

Zoren is a Havre native and Havre High School graduate who served as an intelligence analyst with the U.S. Army Special Forces.

He received two degrees from Montana State University in Bozeman.

He was a teacher in Poplar schools and then moved back to Havre where he is a licensed clinical counselor at Rocky Boy Elementary School.

“If selected, I intend to focus on assisting fellow council members in endeavors to improve local infrastructure, encourage urban renewal and represent the interests of my neighbors to the best of my abilities.”