Mayoral, law director races on ballot

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

There are a number of contests in today’s November general election, with races for Van Wert mayor and law director leading ballot.

In the Van Wert mayoral race, current Van Wert City Board of Education member Kenneth Mengerink is conducting a write-in candidacy against former mayor Don Farmer, who won the May primary against current Mayor Louis Ehmer and Republican City Councilman Kirby Kelly.

Mengerink, who planned to run in May and had petitions out to do so, had to postpone that decision when his daughter broke her foot and needed his help.

“The day to turn in petitions was also the day of my daughter’s surgery,” Mengerink said, adding that he decided she needed him more than he needed to run for mayor at that time.

Mengerink said he thought about running as an independent, but was prevented from doing so by the fact that he voted Republican in the most recent election.

After several community members urged him to run, he decided that mounting a write-in candidacy was the only alternative, if he didn’t want to wait four years. “It was the toughest decision,” Mengerink said.

The Van Wert High School graduate (Class of 1968) spent six years in the U.S. Army Reserve from 1970-76 and worked as a computer programmer at Central Insurance Company for 37½ years, from 1973 until his retirement in 2010.

Married to the former Karen Muntzinger, Mengerink has two children, Kevin and Krista, and two grandchildren.

For him, the economy is the No. 1 issue. “The economy has affected Van Wert as bad as any place,” Mengerink said, noting that, while no one can guarantee jobs for the community, he feels he knows enough about the community to create a positive environment that could lead to businesses wanting to locate here. “I’ve always been a cheerleader for the Van Wert community,” Mengerink said, adding that, as a former Van Wert City Councilman who served four terms on Council and a Van Wert school board member for 20 years, he knows a lot about the community and its strengths.

Mengerink said he feels it’s time for some new ideas in city government and he hopes to provide those, as well as be a positive role model if elected mayor.

His Republican opponent, Don Farmer, served as mayor from 2004-2008, but then lost in a heated races to current mayor Louis Ehmer. Farmer returned the favor this May when he defeated both Ehmer and Kelly for the Republican nomination for mayor.

Although a native Californian, Farmer has lived in the Van Wert community for 35 years. After graduating with a degree in business finance from Los Angeles State College, Farmer also worked at Central Insurance Company, first in the company’s Los Angeles office and then locally as a personal lines underwriter. He later became a district sales manager for Celina Mutual Insurance Company and then for Meridian Mutual Insurance Company and later was a Yellow Pages sales person and then a communication consultant for IBM and Federated Department Stores, and then returned to Southern California to work for the Pacific Bell System.

After a stint as an independent insurance agent for HBW Insurance in Van Wert, he went into business for himself as owner-operator of the former Paint Bucket store, Mac’s Delicatessen and Pave Advertising.

A longtime City Council member who currently holds an at-large seat on Council, Farmer said he feels the next four years will be critical for the city, in respect to the direction of the local economy.

“My commitment to you as mayor will be hard work, integrity, honesty, respect and a professional approach as mayor,” Farmer has said. “Decisions will be based not only on what is best for our community now, but how it will affect the future and those that follow.”

Farmer said he would make every effort to attract jobs to the community and touts the fact that he had large carryovers in the city budget during his four years as mayor.

“I feel it is extremely important that the mayor work with each business and industry, no matter the size, with the same enthusiasm,” Farmer noted. “We will count our new jobs one at a time.”

Married to the former Nancy Raabe, Farmer has four children and 11 grandchildren.

The race for Van Wert law director pits Democrat incumbent Greg Unterbrink against Republican challenger John Hatcher.

Unterbrink seeks re-election for the first time after being elected without opposition in 2008. A 1968 graduate of Van Wert High School, he attended Ohio State University and later graduated from Incarnate Word College in San Antonio, Texas, with a degree in history, with a minor in political science. After working as a dispatcher for Teleflex Inc. and later for Pershing Ohio, Unterbrink, a Vietnam era veteran of the U.S. Army, earned his law degree from the University of Toledo Law School in 1978.

He had a law practice for nearly 30 years in Van Wert and is a member of the Van Wert County Bar Association. He also has run for other elective offices, including mayor and state representative, as a Democrat.

Hatcher has practiced law with his father, W. Edward Hatcher, since he was admitted to the bar in 2000. He currently has a family law practice that includes criminal defense work, bankruptcy and probate legal cases.

He is a member of the Van Wert County and Ohio State Bar Associations.

There are a number of other contests on the November ballot.

In Van Wert, three Republicans — current Fourth Ward Councilman Stan Agler, current Mayor Louis Ehmer and former councilman Brent Agler — are running for three at-large City Council seats. They are opposed by former First Ward councilman Jeff Agler, a Democrat.

In the county, there are mayoral races in Middle Point, where Kenneth E. Myers is challenging incumbent Michael Wolfcale, and in Ohio City, where incumbent Dale Boroff is challenged by Charles Rollins.

Also in Middle Point, Mark Dickman, Jarret Hammons, Lisa Merkle and Scott Redding are all seeking two seats on that village’s council, while three people, Jody Berry, Karen Hunsiker and Michelle Sheets, are running for that village’s clerk-treasurer position.

In the townships, four people, Roy Cooper, Josh Evans, William B. Evans II and Brian Leathers, are seeking one trustee’s position in Ridge Township. Three people, Richard Mollenkopf, Jerry D. Parrish Sr. and Jeff Wise, are seeking a seat on the Tully Township Board of Trustees.

In Liberty Township, incumbent Coral E. Marbaugh is being challenged for fiscal officer by Tracey Allenbaugh, while Kelly Bartz and Paul Dixon are running for fiscal officer in Pleasant Township.

In the Crestview Local School District, incumbents John Auld and Mike Schlagbaum are running against challenger Dave Thomas for the two open board seats. However, what would have been a four-person race for three Van Wert City Board of Education seats turned into a non-contest when Ken Mengerink decided to run as a write-in for mayor.