PERRYSBURG – Candidates for city council are looking for an opportunity to help carry the city through a
period of economic recovery.
Voters in the Nov. 3 general election will appoint three individuals to positions on council for
four-year terms. Incumbents Michael Olmstead, Maria Ermie and Joe Lawless are defending their seats for
another term. And a newcomer, Steve Long, will throw his hat into the race for the first time this year.
Mayor Nelson Evans is running unopposed for a second term.
Lawless, a small business owner and veteran council member with nearly 12 years of experience, will seek
a fourth term with the city. He currently serves as council president, as the chair of the Recreation
Committee and as a member of the Planning and Zoning and Economic Development committees. During his
tenure on council, Lawless was involved in planting the seeds that helped the city’s park system bloom.
"I’m very passionate about the parks and recreation facilities in town, and we’ve made vast
improvements commercially to all the parks in town," he said.
He remembers how Hood Park began as a gravel parking lot. Rivercrest and Municipal Park are now fully
developed, and improvements have been made to Riverside and Three Meadows parks. He is particularly
excited about new cooperative efforts between the city and local civic organizations, which donated
trees and other items, to develop the new Rotary Park.
One of the major issues facing the city for Lawless is
providing high-quality services during a period of economic decline or stagnation. He said the city must
continue to find creative means to provide the same level of services at an affordable cost.
"That’s going to be very important for the next few years." Lawless also believes attracting
more business to town will lower the tax burden on existing city customers.
Ermie, a two-term council member, is a 30-year resident of Perrysburg with more than 30 years of business
and management experience. In addition to her service on council – as chair of the Personnel Committee
and as a member of the Health, Sanitation and Public Utilities and Finance committees – she has also
served on the Wood County Workforce Policy Board, the Wood County United Way Board, and as a member of
League of Women Voters and several other community organizations.
She has advocated for the "growth must pay for growth" policy to pay for the $12-million
wastewater treatment plant, which shifts the cost of capital expansion to new development. She has also
worked to make the city budget more accessible and easier to modify and monitor and has pushed for
revisions of the state’s collective bargaining law to give local governments more control over personnel
wages.
One of her primary goals during a third term would be to help the city leave its contract with the Toledo
Area Regional Transit Authority and to identify alternative transportation providers with "good
quality service at a reasonable cost."
"Going forward I will continue to scrutinize expenses and debt levels while focusing on basic
services" she stated in her campaign literature. "I will also diligently pursue alternative
water sources, revisions to the state ordinances governing the collective bargaining process and
alternative transportation providers to lower costs and improve services for those who need public
transportation."
Steve Long, the first-time challenger, is a general practice attorney and a former social studies
teacher. He has lived in Perrysburg for three years and served on the Charter Review Commission in 2008.
Long casts himself as practical-minded and unconcerned with ideological positions. He believes he will
bring a fresh perspective to issues facing the city.
Long decided to run for public office based on his own advice to former students: that people who possess
the ability and skill to participate in their communities should offer their services.
In the short-term, Long wants to make sure the city is "not getting so frozen with fear about the
current state of the economy that we overlook opportunities that we can capitalize on, which in the long
run will benefit the city." And while the city needs growth, Long says the city must foster
"the right kind of growth." Council should keep an eye on whether potential developments will
pay for the stress on city services, he said.
Long wants to see more transparency and communication between the city and the residents – by keeping the
city Web site up-to-date with pertinent information, for example. He would also like the city to use the
People Planning Perrysburg Comprehensive Plan as a touchstone to guide future decisions, as he believes
it more accurately reflects the will of the people..
"We paid for it," he said. "A lot of people put their energy and effort into it. It
appears from my read of it to be a pretty good document and a pretty good plan."
Olmstead is running on his experience as a local businessman and a belief in the effectiveness of limited
government. He will seek a second term on the council, where he currently serves on the Economic
Development and Recreation committees.
As chair of the Service Safety Committee, Olmstead worked to prune costs where possible and to reduce
overtime for the fire and police departments. He said, compared to four years ago, the safety
departments now are more accessible and more ready to monitor the cost of their services.
So far, Olmstead believes, the city has successfully fulfilled its core duty to protect the overall way
of life for citizens by focusing on basic issues – such as safety, infrastructure and conservative
fiscal management. In the future, he said, the council should encourage appropriate development that is
consistent with the desired direction of the city. He said council should refer to the comprehensive
plan for reference.
"The economics have changed nationwide, and I still believe great times are ahead of us," he
said. "But, nevertheless, in the meantime, I think we have to be very smart in the way we handle
the problems that we’re going to be facing in the city."
