New Council members affect city issues

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

The composition of Van Wert City Council will again change significantly this year, with half of that legislative body either deciding not to run for re-election or being defeated in either a primary or general election contest.

For the sake of continuity, it helps that two incoming members have prior Council experience. New Council President Ken Mengerink served on Council in the 1980s and also has 20 years’ experience as a member of the Van Wert City Board of Education, as well as significant experience as a member of the Vantage Board of Education. Jon Tomlinson also served a two-year term on City Council, but decided not to seek re-election then because he was pursuing his doctorate.

The other incoming City Council members, Jerry Mazur and Steve Trittschuh, are newcomers to Council. Mazur won a primary battle with first-term Third Ward Councilman Stuart Jewett, while Trittschuh defeated Democrat candidate Jim Hamman to succeed Fourth Ward Councilman Pete Weir, who ran unsuccessfully against Mengerink for the Council president’s seat vacated by Gary Corcoran.

It will be interesting to see what impact the new City Council make-up will have on issues pending from 2013, including the former Washington school site and the permanent city budget, as well as a possible overture from the Van Wert County Board of Commissioners to combine economic development operations.

In the past year, City Council and Mayor Don Farmer’s administration have sparred on both the Washington school site and budget issues, but it remains to see whether a new Council will eliminate – or exacerbate – last year’s philosophical divide.

Further negotiations are needed on both the Washington and Franklin school site projects, while it’s likely that more discussion is ahead for the city budget, which needs to be approved in March.

Committee assignments for the coming year include the following:

• Finance – Joi Mergy (chair), Stan Agler (vice chair), Steve Trittschuh
• Health & Safety – John Marshall (chair), Trittschuh (vice chair), Jerry Mazur
• Judiciary & Annexation – Agler (chair), Mazur (vice chair), Jon Tomlinson
• Parks & Recreation – Brent Crone (chair), Tomlinson (vice chair), Agler
• Properties & Equipment – Mazur (chair), Mergy (vice chair), Marshall
• Streets & Alleys – Trittschuh (chair), Crone (vice chair), Mergy
• Water & Sewer – Tomlinson (chair), Marshall (vice chair), Crone.