Belgium immigrant wins Varnell City Council seat

Published 6:00 am Wednesday, November 6, 2013

If Jan Pourquoi isn’t the first naturalized United States citizen to hold office in Whitfield County, he is certainly among a very few.

Some 145 voters propelled the businessman and Belgian immigrant to Seat 2 on the Varnell City Council Tuesday over 1998 Northwest Whitfield High School graduate Michael Willocks, who received 111 votes. The results are unofficial until certified by the Secretary of State, according to results from the Whitfield County Elections Office. Brent Newsome, who currently holds Seat 2, did not seek re-election.

“This is one of the happiest days of my life,” Pourquoi said. “I think I’m the first naturalized citizen to ever hold elected office (locally). That does say something about the changing world.”

Pourquoi said he believes voters paid attention to his campaign because he knocked on every door in the city introducing himself, exposed some facts about the city’s financial situation many weren’t aware of, and “ran on substance” rather than popularity. He received 56.64 percent of the vote to Willocks’ 43.36 percent.

Pourquoi has proposed the City Council begin saving 5 percent of its revenue each year to build a rainy day fund that the city could use in case of emergency. He has also said that, while he supports many of the financial decisions council members have made, Varnell’s lack of a rainy day fund and its large debt relative to its annual revenue leaves it in a precarious financial situation.

During the campaign, Willocks touted Varnell’s need to continue making use of its status as a town with “the convenience of a big city without the headache,” and he said he still believes in the city’s future and wants to see it continue to succeed. While he’s disappointed he didn’t win the election, he also said he was glad so many people took the time to vote.

“I put in a lot of effort,” Willocks said. “Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to go out and knock on doors, which Jan did. My grandfather had some health issues and I’ve been tending to him. I haven’t had a whole lot of time to go knock on doors unfortunately, but I think myself and Jan both ran pretty clean campaigns.”

He said he might consider running again in the future.

Pourquoi has owned floorcovering company Global Works LLC since 2006. He immigrated legally to the United States from Belgium in 1987 and became a U.S. citizen in 1994. He pronounces his first name “Yahn.”