A former Christiansburg town council member is considering another run for local government. Matter of fact, Harry Collins had discussed a local oddity by running for both the Montgomery Board of Supervisors and Christiansburg town council this coming November.
But after discussion with electoral officials, he centered on town council.
“I thought it would be a great advantage in serving if you knew what each body was doing, how they were doing it, and how they financed it. The meetings are on different nights. Board of Supervisors on the second and fourth Mondays of each month and the town council on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month. I thought I would be able to make sure my board assignments would not conflict,” he said this weekend.
In 2016, he was elected to Christiansburg Town Council and he believes he is the first person to have had a bilateral lung transplant and hold a town council seat. He also has experience as a member of the town planning commission for 12 years.
Collins was diagnosed with COPD and had a bilateral lung transplant at the at Duke University Medical Center in March 2010.
In his previous time on council, Collins pointed to initiating the idea to enable one person to be over both the Fire Department and the Rescue Squad.
“My biggest accomplishment was with the other council members, one of the first towns to support the ACCE Program,” he said. “With the other council members, we approved new signage for the town entrances. We initiated the idea to put Christmas Lights in Cambria and include them in the town and we started the Pledge of Allegiance at planning commission meetings.”
His future plans include building a statue park, keeping taxes from being raised and to gain approval for people over 65 years old to be exempt from paying personal property taxes.
