West View Mayor J.R. Henry honored for more than 3 decades of service

When one thinks of how different the world was in 1988, it becomes easier to realize just how long Mayor J.R. Henry has served his community. In appreciation of his 35 years of dedicated service as a borough council member and eventually mayor, Henry was presented with the Pennsylvania Association of Boroughs Donald E. Carmen Award for his lengthy career in political office.

West View council president William Aguglia presented Henry with the award at the July 12 council meeting.

Henry was elected to borough council in 1988. He was appointed mayor in 2006 and has held that office ever since. When asked for the reason for his longevity, it didn’t take long for Henry to come up with an answer.

“We have not had a lot of bad politics, so I think that’s made it easier for people to be reelected, including myself,” he said. “The council and I have worked together, whereas in some communities you have people being argumentative and not working together. So, we pride ourselves here in West View for being a collaborative group of elected officials.”

Henry said the recognition means a lot to him.

“It represents a lot of hard work and I’m really humbled by it,” Henry said. “I don’t think in this day and age a lot of people commit 35 years to being a local elected official. So, it’s kind of a milestone that few achieve.”

It also didn’t take long for Henry to cite his most significant accomplishment in those 35 years.

“Right near the beginning of my tenure, I was on council, (and) we were able to develop the old West View Park site in 1988. We were able to secure a 100-unit senior citizen high-rise building. There was (also) a shopping center that was developed.”