Wallace mayoral candidate: David Sherman

David Sherman,58, is running for the position of mayor of the city of Wallace.

During the twenty years he has been in Wallace, Sherman says he has been “humbled by the variety of hard-working, community-minded people who make Wallace the best city in the world.”

He believes at this point he is capable of effectively managing the day-to-day affairs of Wallace’s government.

He feels confident of this because he’s “realized how many good people are contributing their skills and energy toward making our city interesting, caring, fun, and generally a good place to live.”

Sherman is running against Lynn Mogensen for the open mayoral position.

Many know him as the chairman of Planning and Zoning, or as “that guy with all the old trucks.”

Sherman is an engineer “by training and temperament,” with a master’s degree in electrical engineering.

He maintains a professional engineer’s license in Idaho and Washington.

His immediate family at this stage in life consists of his sister, Patti, who is an NICU nurse at Children’s Hospital in Seattle.

Sherman says his approach to governance is the same as his approach to designing circuits or fixing old trucks: “What matters is making it work, not figuring out whose fault it is that it doesn’t.”

“Engineering demands brutal honesty because you can’t fool the laws of physics,” he explains.

“Engineering also forces attention to costs and benefits; one has to always balance competing demands for time, money, and perfection.”

Over the past decade, Sherman has chaired the Wallace Planning, Zoning, and Historic Preservation Commission.

He says that this has allowed him to “meet many citizens and appreciate the trade offs between preservation, economics, and property rights.”

During his time in this position, he has tried to “apply the Historic Code as written, setting aside personal opinions of what I might like or dislike.”

He also stresses that he respects the rule of law, thoughtfully applied.

“If a law is wrong, we should change it.”

In addition to his work on the Planning, Zoning, and Historic Preservation Commission, he has been on the board of the Sierra mine tour, the Mine Heritage exhibition and, most recently, Arts Wallace.

With all of these positions, Sherman says that he “helps out where I can and appreciate how much others do.”

Having run his own business as an engineer and a landlord for almost thirty years, he believes he can “keep a close eye on a budget” and “pinch a penny pretty thin if need be.”

Sherman says that he has been told that he’s “approachable” by a wide variety of people.

He is also “dubious of extremes and finds there is usually a reasonable solution to most problems.”

Here is what Sherman believes to be the important aspects of the position he is running for:

“The position of mayor mainly entails making good management decisions within the law, and enabling good people by helping them do their jobs. The other roles of the mayor are to promote Wallace to the outside world, coordinate with other government entities, and do everything possible to address the major problem of our difficult local economy. When we promote “Historic Wallace,” we mean it literally and authentically. Nobody could build a city like ours today; from the architecture of our homes and businesses to the amazing natural environment around us. The fundamental question must always be ‘What’s best for Wallace?”