By Leah Sander
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — Brian Pyle believes his former military career has prepared him for elected office.

Pyle, of Mentone, is running for Kosciusko County’s southern district commissioner seat. He will face off in the May 3 GOP primary against Don Wiesehan Jr., Elaine Kokenge and incumbent Bob Conley.

Brian Pyle

Pyle served in the Indiana National Guard for 23 years, working his way up through the ranks to being a major, having multiple deployments and holding numerous leadership positions. He also was the command inspector general at Camp Atterbury in Edinburgh where he worked with problem-solving involving military members and civilians.

His leadership positions in the military taught him to budget well, or learn how to “do more with less,” he said, a skill that he believes will serve him in making decisions as commissioner.

Pyle also has management experience from running his law office, Pyle Law Office LLC, in Warsaw.

This is the first time Pyle has run for elected office.

Pyle grew up in Mentone and wants to serve the Kosciusko area, the “best community” that he’s lived in.

He graduated from Tippecanoe Valley High School in 1991 and later obtained bachelor’s degrees in agriculture and forestry from Purdue University.

He worked for the Kosciusko County Soil and Water Conservation District for a while, which gave him insight in local government operations. Pyle said the nature stewardship background he has may help when dealing with issues such as greenways.

“It’s a great way to bring a lot of dollars (to the county),” he said of projects like those.

Pyle said “being accessible” is important to him if he’s elected as commissioner. He believes it would be beneficial to his constituents if he set up regular office hours for them to meet with him if needed.

“I see the role of our elected officials at the local level to actively seek ways to improve quality of life for the members of the county, promote opportunities for the county, be fiduciarily responsible to the taxpayers and be available to the community to listen to and address concerns,” he said. “I know that I have the training and experience to accomplish this.”

The “lifelong Republican” says he will “vote (his) conscience” if elected.

Pyle has been a lawyer for two years, obtaining his law degree from Ohio Northern University.

He has three children, two of whom are seniors at Tippecanoe Valley, and an 8-year-old daughter.