Teen seeks spot on city commission

? Most of Sara Humm’s friends don’t even know what a city commissioner does, but that could change this spring.

The high school senior could become the youngest person ever to serve as an Ottawa commissioner. “I had been toying with the idea for a while,” she said Wednesday, the same day she filed for commissioner. “I decided there’s no better time than now.”

Humm turns 18 on Feb. 24, three days before the cutoff age for candidates.

“I barely made it,” she said.

Humm could be elected to the post in the April 3 election. She has the support of another city servant who started at a young age in this community about 50 miles southwest of Kansas City, Mo.

Ottawa lawyer Blaine Finch was elected to the commission in 1997 at age 20 and became the state’s youngest mayor in 1998.

Finch said he has known Humm and her family for years and offered to help.

“She’s a smart cookie,” he said. “I wish her the best.”

Humm said she checked with her counselors to see if she could miss school for one morning meeting each month and she talked with her mom about balancing commission work with being a college freshman this the fall.

Humm said she supports expanding Ottawa and hopes to use her age to her advantage.

“I think maybe a younger and fresher opinion would be good for the commission,” she told The Ottawa Herald. “I want to do what’s best for Ottawa.”