Brian Ueleke talks about past and future as Germantown alderman
Germantown Alderman Brian Ueleke should easily cruise to victory Tuesday night because no one decided to challenge him for his second term in Position 4.
In fact, a lack of opposition is the common theme for all three of the alderman races on the Germantown ballot. Alderwoman Sherrie Hicks has no opponent in Position 3, and Tony Salvaggio is expected to take Position 5. Alderman Jon McCreery did not seek reelection, and no one decided to run against Salvaggio.
Ueleke was elected in 2020 after Forrest Owens chose not to seek reelection to Position 4. He captured more than 50% of the votes in a three-way race, defeating John Paul Miles and Rod Motley.
“We’ve always been involved, and I kind of got the bug (for elected office) when my sister ran for school board,” Ueleke said. “Local politics was actually something that was a real option.”
His sister Mindy Fischer ran for Position 5 on the suburb’s school board in 2014 but lost to Amy Eoff.
Ueleke had been involved in politics in college. He also had a young family and said he wanted to ensure Germantown remained a safe community with quality schools.
Ueleke was active in the community as a member of the Financial Advisory Commission, reviewing the city’s budget, and he often attended Board of Mayor and Aldermen meetings.
“I wanted to be able to have constructive conversations about the issues facing our community and to reduce the drama that was there on Monday nights,” he said.
The 2020 elections in Germantown brought three new aldermen to the board. Before then, board meetings were often lengthy and tense. While the temperature of the board has improved, Ueleke said he wants to remain involved.
“I have found in the service, it’s very rewarding to be able to help people and see results,” he said. “... You can see you make a difference in the community and with people in their real lives.”
In the last four years, he saw the completion of the Houston Middle addition, which his children will benefit from next year.
“It’s a tangible accomplishment,” he said. “It’s not something we did on our own.”
The suburb also worked out a plan for the city’s namesake schools: Germantown Elementary, Germantown Middle and Germantown High. A transfer of ownership plan was negotiated nearly two years ago.
The board also worked on the new water tower and continued investing in drainage and stormwater. While it required increasing a fee, the city has about $750,000 annually solely for drainage repairs.
“That consistently lets us address issues in neighborhoods and fix problems before they become bigger issues,” he said.
Ueleke said he wants to see public safety remain a priority, and the board increased pay to help ease hiring challenges.
“If we don’t have public safety, I don’t think the rest of it has the same impact,” he said. “Staying in tune with what's going on with changing trends in crime, changing tools that the police department needs to be effective in addressing that — that’s one of the biggest things we have to deal with.”
He said he knows the Houston High master plan is looming and is expected to be a large expense.
Ueleke said it’s impossible to make improvements all at once.
“Figuring out how we make significant progress on that is going to be one of the biggest challenges we have over the next year or two to really work on,” he said. “Then, how do you keep that progress going for years to come?”
Early voting has end for the Nov. 5 elections. Polls will open Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Additional information can be found at govotetn.gov.
Topics
Germantown Germantown Board of Mayor and Aldermen Germantown 2024 election Brian UelekeAbigail Warren
Abigail Warren is a lifelong resident of Shelby County and a graduate of the University of Memphis. She has worked for several local publications and covers the suburbs for The Daily Memphian.
Want to comment on our stories or respond to others? Join the conversation by subscribing now. Only paid subscribers can add their thoughts or upvote/downvote comments. Our commenting policy can be viewed here.