Guillaume-Wenger running for Center Township board to preserve its services
Government starts at the local level. City, county, and township governments are best equipped to address issues in their communities. But township government has gained the attention of state legislators who believe these small, local units are no longer needed.
Faced with this existential threat, the current members of the Center Township Trustee’s Advisory Board have taken a position that townships responsibilities will be transferred to county government administration. But a candidate for the board has emerged, taking a different approach.
Hannah Guillaume-Wenger, a Kokomo resident and Democrat, has announced her candidacy for the advisory board, which will be determined in the 2026 election season. She intends to preserve township government through local action, serving residents in meaningful ways.
“I am running for the Center Township board because I would like representation from someone who is a Democrat and is somewhere around my age range who actually cares about the job that they are running for in the community and is not just there for a paycheck or nice insurance,” said Guillaume-Wenger. “I also do not believe that township government will be dissolved anytime soon, and I would like to plan for the future and not plan to be a dissolved township.”
Guillaume-Wenger said her top three priorities for Center Township, if elected, include raising awareness about what township government does, restoring aid to local nonprofits that was terminated for 2026, and reaching out to the community to find ways for township government to better meet the needs of residents.
Township government is also responsible for providing housing, utility, medicine, and food assistance, contributing to local fire protection, and maintaining cemeteries, parks, and community centers under its control.
“I’m very passionate and very community driven,” said Guillaume-Wenger. “I’ve worked a lot with Operation Blue Horizon to connect with the community as much as possible, and with other local Democrats.
“I’m also big on insulin access advocacy, as my husband is a type one diabetic. We did not know that township government offered help with insulin, and that is really important. Insulin is a life-saving medicine that a lot of people need.”
If elected, Guillaume-Wenger hopes to work with Center Township Trustee Drew Durham, who also is running for re-election. It is a relationship she believes is currently broken due to the political bent of the current board members.
“I am very impressed with the current trustee, Drew Durham,” said Guillaume-Wenger. “The rest of the board seems very focused on the possibility of township government dissolving, and not so much what they could be doing instead. It’s just not something that, if I was in that position, would be where my focus is specifically.
“Township government being dissolved is just not where my mind would be at all. I intend to work with what we have and what we know instead of what ifs.”
Guillaume-Wenger emphasized that township government serves as the closest connection to residents than any other level of local government. As such, it needs to be led by people focused on the mission of aiding the community, rather than a political agenda, she said.
“Township government can help so many people,” said Guillaume-Wenger. “Federal politics do not necessarily affect you on a day-to-day basis, but township government does. It’s about your community, where you live. It’s the closest level of government to you, and it should not be in the hands of people who just don’t care.”
As for her opponents in the township board race who currently sit in the positions, she had a simple message.
“I’m coming for you,” she said.