Kudos go to Jefferson Mayor Dana Tugman not only for service to the community but consistent, years of service to the community.

The mayor was awarded the Charles Von Canon Regional Leadership award by the High Country Council of Governments recently.

Tugman has served Jefferson for a total of 16 years, including 10 as mayor. He has been a member of the High Country Council of Governments Executive Board for 14 years during which time he served as chairman for various terms. Outside of politics Tugman has been a trustee on the Ashe Memorial Hospital Board of Trustees since 1982 and was the board’s president for 13 years. He also served as superintendent of the Upper Mountain Research Station and as chairman of the board for Ashe Services for Aging.

In a world full of change and of failed promises, Tugman has consistently come back to follow up on obligations to Jefferson, the High Country as a region, and its people. In the future, sustainable growth, the nature of travel and commerce and need for efficiencies of services will require cooperation through out the region.

A groundwork for regional cooperation is set by Tugman’s 14 years of attention to the activities of the high Country Council of Governments and the region it encompasses.

But it all comes down to a willingness to show up at Jefferson Town meetings, help lead the way to answers to the hard questions of life in Jefferson. It means answering concerns of late-night callers and disgruntled citizens.

Tugman a has done it for going on two decades