[ Ed. Note: Matt Black-wood has authorized the Times and Free Press to publish his announcement as candidate for Ward 1 trustee for the Town of Okarche, subject to the April 2 municipal election.]

Matt Blackwood views his candidacy for Ward 1 trustee for the Town of Okarche as a chance to give back to the community that has given its wholehearted support to him and his family for more than four years.

Jessica Blackwood was pregnant with their younger daughter Reagan when she and Matt learned the baby would be born with a rare, life-threatening heart defect.

At that time, Black-wood served as lieutenant to then Police Chief Bob Gamble, and he and his wife and their older daughter Kennedy found themselves inundated with financial donations, meals, child care, lawn care, transportation and more.

“Their support allowed us to find and afford what, at the time, was the best surgeon and hospital for what Reagan had,” he said. “There was no way we could have done that on our own. It was absolutely incredible.

“That’s why it’s not generic lip service when I say I love this town. I love it in a way that I think most people don’t understand.

“I want to serve so that I can help develop the kind of government the Town of Okarche deserves.”

A 2001 graduate of Kingfisher High School, Blackwood studied criminal justice at Redlands Community College in El Reno before joining Kingfisher Police Department as a reserve police officer, then served as a reserve deputy and jailer-dispatcher with the Kingfisher County Sheriff’s Office before joining the Okarche police force, where he served nearly 12 years.

He became an instructor in the Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training (CLEET) basic academy, teaching in all areas of firearms.

Blackwood now works for Millennium Roofing Construction and Restoration as a salesman and sales manager, supervising traveling sales teams in several states simultaneously.

His skills include building relationships between his employer and various entities, including insurance companies, real estate agents and adjusters.

Blackwood wants to bring those same people skills into play “rebuilding trust between our town government and the community.”

He also wants to help usher in more advanced government services that other s mall towns currently enjoy.

“It’stimetobringOkarche into the 21st Century in terms of technology,” he said. “A lot of towns smaller and with less money than ours have more advanced government services, like online bill paying.”

But most of all, Black-wood says he wants to serve the town that has served him and his family, and continues to do so as Reagan turns 4 next month and faces additional health challenges.

He and his wife, a surgical nurse who will soon take the state nursing board exam to be licensed as a registered nurse, will spend April 1 at OU Children’s Hospital, where Reagan will undergo a heart catheterization procedure to help determine her fitness for an eventual transplant.

“It’s my sincere hope that the very next day my fellow residents will elect me as trustee so that I can go to work serving my town again, just in a different ca-