By Martha Jacob
More than 200 people attended the October 23 Georgetown Candidate and Issues Forum held at the Gaslight Theater in Georgetown.
The event was sponsored by the Brown County Press/News Democrat, moderated by editor of the papers, Wayne Gates.
The event was broadcast live on 99.5 FM The Edge and livestreamed on the Village of Georgetown website.
Throughout the evening voters in the audience were privy to hearing what their candidates had to say in hopes of swaying votes in their direction.
Candidates for Georgetown Village Council, Georgetown mayor and the local school board answered questions regarding what each would bring to the table if elected.
Also discussed was the question of should the Village of Georgetown establish a charter village commission for the village and whether to reduce the current fire and EMS levy.
Following comments from each of the candidates and representatives of the two issues, moderator of the event, Gates, gave ample time for anyone in attendance to step up to the microphone and offer a rebuttal.
During discussions about the issue regarding reducing the current fire and EMS levy, several members of the audience, who had openly been against the issue, sat silent, despite Gates encouragement to speak up and offer their input on the issue.
“This is your opportunity to tell these voters why they should vote yes to do away with the EMS levy,” Gates stressed. “Anyone is welcome to come up to the podium and speak out.”
Once the forum began, first to take the stage were the three candidates for Georgetown Exempted Village School Board including Raymond Virost, Brian Faught and Greg Barlow.
Mr. Virost briefly discussed his 16 years of service as a board member and his desire to stay on the board. He talked about the state report card which he believes is not necessarily a reflection of how well a district is doing and the fact that there has not been a school levy since the early 70’s due to good stewardship.
Candidate Barlow told the audience that he has spent nearly 30 years in education, including teaching, administration, principal as well as working for the Ohio Department of Education regional office. He stressed his respect for school administration and his knowledge of school policies and procedures.
Mr. Faught talked about the importance of workplace development for students and how he highly endorsed the “Success for All” reading program in the district. He said he sees a real need to review the age of some of the districts textbooks and how they should be updated.
All three candidates expressed their concerns over safety and communication in the district and encouraged everyone to attend board meetings so they would be better informed on what was going on in the district.
Next to be introduced were the two candidates for Georgetown Council, sitting council member Nancy Montgomery and Forest ‘Buddy’ Coburn. (Ginny Colwell is also a candidate for Georgetown Council but was unable to attend the event.)
Montgomery told the crowd that she had worked hard to make Georgetown a better place to live and raise a family and asked for votes to keep her on the job so she could finish many of the projects she had begun.
Montgomery said the village needs more living wage jobs and certainly needs an Urgent Care facility, since the Grown County Hospital closed. She said she would also like to see the village cleaned up the historical district of Georgetown maintained.
Coburn talked briefly about his concerns over the financial stability of the village and his sincere desire to bring more business/industry to the village. He said the Village of Georgetown is a beautiful place to live and should he become its next mayor he would have an open-door policy.
Both candidates asked for votes from the audience.
Mike Mayes, candidate for Georgetown Mayor is running against incumbent Dale Cahall who has served as mayor for the past 13 years.
Mr. Mayes discussed the dire need for leadership in the village to recognize that not all residents in the village are the same and many have a more difficult time with change and leaders need to look outside the box and listen to what others have to say.
Mr. Mayes and Mr. Cahall expressed their solid support for voting no on the Fire/EMS levy.
Mr. Cahall said he is encouraged by the progress being made in the Village of Georgetown including all the plans for the TIF District and the workforce need in the village. He wants to see more jobs in Brown County so people don’t have to leave the village for a job.
Next to speak was Jeremy Varner, a teacher with extensive knowledge on the Georgetown Charter Village issue. He answered multiple questions regarding the issue, from Mr. Gates.
Mr. Varner talked at length to the audience stressing that what voters will face on the ballot is to simply choose 15 local people to form a Charter Commission who will then, in one year, draft and write a charter (policies and rules) to govern the village should residents vote yes to become a Charter Village in years to come.
“These 15 people that will serve on this commission are just people you all know from your own community,” Mr. Varner said. “Every step of writing this charter will be open to the public at all times for input. Nothing will be done in secret, because these policies will be specifically designed for this community.”
Finally by the end of the event, former Georgetown Village Administrator and long time firefighter, Art Owens took the microphone and made a powerpoint presentation on why it is so important to the welfare of the residents of Georgetown to say no on the November ballot on eliminating the Fire/EMS tax levy.
Georgetown Fire Chief Joey Rockey also offered a powerpoint presentation on the current finances of the fire department and what the money is being spent on.
A 9.5 mill levy was passed by voters last fall to fund the fire department and EMS. But there has been a push by some residents in Georgetown to do away with the levy which currently generates $505,000 annually, replacing a 2.5 mill levy which only generated about $200,000 and depended on an all volunteer staff was not enough to keep the department functional.
Voters will vote in November to revert back to the 2.5 mill levy with a yes vote or keep the 9.5 mill levy with a no vote.
