City mayoral candidates share visions

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

The two candidates for mayor of Van Wert brought their visions of the future of Van Wert to a Candidates’ Night sponsored by the Heart Land Patriots that was held Tuesday in Trinity Friends Church’s Family Life Center.

Both candidates, Republican Jerry Mazur and independent Joe Jared, first talked about their backgrounds and why they want to be mayor.

Mazur, a retired manager for Otis Elevator, stressed his community involvement, which includes membership in a number of local organizations, talked briefly about his former stint as manager of the Van Wert County Regional Airport, and provided information on the six points he highlighted during his primary election campaign.

Those include uniting the city and county economic development offices; developing a five-year strategic plan for the city; enforcing city codes related to junk vehicles, weeds, etc.; working with neighboring townships to combine fire and EMS coverage areas; improving small business and workforce development; and managing the city’s budget in a responsible manner.

Mazur also noted that City Council candidates who shared his viewpoint on what was needed for the future of the city were all elected in the primary.

Jared, a largely self-educated person who owns and operates a small business from his home in Van Wert, talked about the city’s economic problems and provided his take on what needs to be done to improve the community.

Noting that his business provides enough income for him to live on, Jared said he would donate the mayor’s $55,000 annual salary toward helping individual city residents become more successful by starting their own businesses.

“I’m focusing on freedom and prosperity,” Jared said, noting that would work with City Council to identify ordinances that were arbitrary and unnecessary and remove them from the books. “Like snowball fights in back alleys and things like that,” he noted.

Like Mazur, Jared said he feels city and county ED efforts need to be combined to better serve local residents, while he said he would also look at city officials’ salaries to see where expenses could be lowered to provide more money to help local residents.

“Basically, I’m looking at this town as being a little Eureka,” Jared said, referring to the SciFi Network television series about a town where people created futuristic inventions.

“My goal is to be very helpful in the creation of businesses,” he noted.

When asked why he wanted to be mayor, Jared said it was so that he could have a forum for his ideas on economic development through small business creation.

“I need my ideas to be popular,” he added. “I need everyone to know what my ideas are.”

The mayoral race is the only one of note in the city for the November 3 general election.

Also Tuesday, Linda Hartman, who is running for Pleasant Township fiscal officer, spoke briefly about her qualifications. Her opponent, incumbent Kelly Bartz, was apparently not invited to speak.

Milo Schaffner also spoke in opposition to Ohio House Bill 190, a bill dealing with wind turbine setbacks that he said limited Ohioans’ property rights.