By Peter Kuebeck
Special to the Sentinel-Tribune
Republican Connor Rose and Democrat Jeremy Schroeder are competing in the Nov. 5 general election for the post of Wood County recorder.
In the primary election, Rose claimed that his opponent, current Republican Jim Matuszak, was absent from the office and running a full-time business elsewhere. Matuszak argued that under his leadership, the office now ran so efficiently that he could “run the office from a remote location,” was in contact with the office personally and via email each day, and met face-to-face with his chief deputy recorder daily.
On the night of the primary election, unofficial results showed Rose and Matuszak tied, but when the results were fully tallied, Rose edged Matuszak out by the slim margin of nine votes, becoming the Republican nominee.
Earlier this fall, Matuszak took the unusual step of endorsing Schroeder, Rose’s Democratic opponent. Further, Wood County Democratic Party Chair Zack Schmidt issued a statement last month alleging that Rose had improperly used an electronic realty resource.
“I ran a clean campaign the first time (in the primary election),” Rose said during a recent interview when asked about Schmidt’s statement, “and I’m going to run a clean campaign this time.”
Rose is a realtor and auctioneer with his family’s real estate brokerage, Don Rose Auction and Realty in Bowling Green.
“I ran, first and foremost, because I have a passion for real estate,” said Rose of why he’s seeking the recorder’s post, “and throughout the course of business it was evident” in the real estate community that the recorder’s office was being “grossly neglected,” he said. Rose added that he felt that with his own expertise he could run for the office and make a difference.
Rose noted that the recorder’s office is heavily involved in real estate records and that, since he is a dual-licensed realtor and auctioneer, he deals with those documents on a daily basis “so it’s a very natural fit to my background.”
If elected, Rose said he had three top priorities. First, he would look into the possibility of reinstating what is known as the “geographic index,” a records system that the recorder’s office used, he said, for approximately 200 years before a new system put in place by Matuszak. He said that would safeguard property rights in the county by helping to eliminate title discrepancies. Rose further said it would also improve efficiency for those who utilize the recorder’s office on a daily basis, and that it would ensure transparency because those records would be easily accessible with an accurate indexing method.
A 2014 graduate of Bowling Green High School, Rose noted that he attended Hondros College of Real Estate for his real estate license, and also attended Reppert School of Auctioneering. He said that he also donates his services for benefit auctions for area charities.
When asked about the endorsement from Matuszak, Schroeder, of Weston, said “it certainly was unexpected, but I’m really grateful for that. Matuszak has met with me, we’ve talked about the office and I’ve also toured the office with his deputy recorder and it’s an amazing office and it seems like they have a really awesome staff. He’d kind of put it out there (the tour) as just aiding in the transition of the office and I certainly appreciate that.”
Schroeder is in his third term, and ninth year, as mayor of Weston, previously served on Weston Village Council, and is also a manager for a large-format printing facility called Off Contact in Toledo.
As to why he’s running for the recorder’s post, Schroeder said “it speaks to me on a bunch of different levels. I have been in public service for over 10 years now, and I personally get a ton of satisfaction in doing that job. … I’ve thought about how all of our county offices are run by ordinary people, our neighbors, and it’s such an incredible model of how to run our government.”
Schroeder said that, if elected, he would make himself accessible to all stakeholders who use the office, and “continue to provide leadership to the employees.” Further, he said “I think there’s a lot of work that could be done to provide some outreach to the community about all of the things that the recorder’s office does and can be used for. There’s a lot of family genealogy that people do and utilize the recorder’s office,” he said. “I think it’s surely important to make that connection with the community, with the taxpayers.
Schroeder further said that he would like to look into reaching out to other county municipalities to ensure that “we’re serving them in a capacity that could be helpful to them.”
Schroeder noted he has more than a decade of managerial experience at Off Contact, and said that, as mayor of Weston, he has the responsibility of overseeing the village staff and providing leadership there.
“I certainly think I have the leadership skills and also just working on the government level,” Schroeder said.
