Commissioner candidates speak at event

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

The six candidates seeking the Republican nomination for two separate Van Wert County commissioner’s terms got another chance to air their views during a candidate’s luncheon hosted by fellow county Republicans.

The event, held at Willow Bend Country Club, drew all but one of the candidates. Bill Evans, a township trustee, was attending a state trustee association event, but still sent daughter Megan Price to represent him.

Those up first were the two candidates for current Commissioner Gary Adams’ term of office, which begins January 3, 2013. Denzil “Denny” Wortman was the first to speak, and he emphasized his degree in electronics from ITT and his 31 years with Chrysler Corporation and GKN Sinter Metals. Wortman also operates a small farming operation, and stressed the management skills it takes to operate a farm. “It takes a lot of input today to be a farmer, and stay a farmer,” Wortman said.

Wortman said he feels economic development — particularly the airport and Job Ready Site megasite — are critical to the financial health of the county.

Wortman, who is also a private pilot with an instrument rating and volunteers at the airport, said he would like to see aviation take a front seat in the county.

“I think economic development is a priority for everybody,” Wortman said, adding that he would support an expansion of the airport, possibly linked to programs at Vantage or a junior college to promote training for mechanics and pilots.

“This way we will bring people to Van Wert that have the financial means to possibly bring business here,” Wortman concluded.

His opponent, Sheriff Stan D. Owens, stressed his more than two decades as sheriff and his background helping operate the family farm. “I learned at a young age what it was like to work and the value of a dollar,” Owens said.

The 1972 Crestview High School graduate said he felt his conservative values and fiscal management and administrative skills would be a plus in the county commissioner’s position.

“I believe in bringing a common-sense approach to issues, looking at the whole picture and trying to work out positive solutions,” he noted. “I firmly believe that we need to stand on our beliefs and our principles when we hold these offices, and I will do that.”

Owens also noted that he would be a responsible steward of taxpayer dollars and would promote economic development.

“I definitely believe in economic growth and development for Van Wert County,” the sheriff said. “I’m very invested in Van Wert County.”

Next up were the candidates for the January 2, 2013, term of county commissioner now held by Clair Dudgeon.

Phil Baxter spoke first, noting his degree in electrical engineering from ITT and his experience in re-organizing a local business that was struggling at the time.

“I reorganized Cool Machines,” Baxter said. “When I got hired there they were able to go belly up; I reorganized their books, reorganized everything in the plant … they’re up and running, they’re profitable and they are taking more and more of the market.”

He stressed his background in business, in a variety of positions. “I’ve been blue collar, I’ve been white collar, and I’ve been a no collar worker,” Baxter noted with a smile.

Baxter, a 1986 graduate of Parkway High School whose father died when he was a senior, also said he was used to working for a living and taking care of the family’s farm facilities.

Megan Price spoke on behalf of her father, Bill Evans, stressing his extensive economic development involvement, including as a representative of the Community Improvement Corporation, Van Wert County Economic Development Advisory Council, Van Wert County Regional Planning Commission, and Van County Port Authority.

Price also talked about her father’s successful operation of the family farming operation, noting that her brother would be the fourth generation of the family to be involved in the farming business.

Evans, a 1971 graduate of Lincolnview High School, also is a York Township trustee and sits on the Van Wert Health Department’s board.

“He has been actively involved in the megasite since its inception, and continues to promote it for the benefit of Van Wert County,” Price said of her father.

Kim Brandt, currently county 9-1-1 coordinator, stressed her knowledge of county government and her experience as a grant writer for the 9-1-1 program.

“As a county employee the past 12 months, I’ve been part of the budgeting process,” Brandt said. “I know my way around the county and the Courthouse; I understand county government.”

Brandt also touted her experience as a member of the Parkway and Vantage school boards, noting that she was part of the Parkway team that brought a $32 million facilities project $1 million under budget.

“I have been there and done that,” Brandt said of many of the responsibilities that come with being a county commissioner and stressed that she would be a full-time commissioner.

“I could hit the ground running,” she said.

Wolfrum, a local attorney who has built up his own practice over several years, was the final speaker and he stressed both his knowledge of the law as a benefit for being a commissioner and his business experience as an attorney, landlord and operator of a pizza business in Middle Point.

“As a commissioner, I can read the law, I can follow the changes,” Wolfrum noted. “I can get the grants, I can get the advantages that we’re missing otherwise.”

He also said it’s important to be able to bring tax money back to the county in the form of grants.

“If we’re sending money to Ohio, if we’re sending money to the federal government, we’ve got to know how to get it back,” Wolfrum noted.

“But most importantly, I think I bring ideas to the commissioner’s office,” he went on to say, adding that bringing some type of branch campus to the county would be advantageous to the county’s economic situation, as well as continuing to work to bring a plant to the megasite.

“We need to bring in advanced education,” Wolfrum stated, noting that doing so would bring in people with ideas of how to improve the local economy.

Republican Central Committee Chairman Martin Burchfield emceed the event and thanked the candidates for their participation.