LIMA — It was standing room only in the basement of St. Mark United Methodist Church on Wednesday evening as all three of the city’s mayoral candidates came together to debate for the first time.
Sponsored by the Northside Neighborhood Association, the debate between incumbent Mayor David Berger and challengers Keith Cheney and Derry Glenn covered a wide array of topics, from dilapidated housing to downtown renewal to crime and drug issues.
For Berger, this election is about successfully completing several projects just now getting underway, such as the National Bank building renovation, the Rhodes State College downtown project and the East Elm Street grade separation. These projects, along with a surplus of jobs in the Lima area posted on OhioMeansJobs.com, gives Berger reason for optimism.
“Right now, we have the strongest economy in 40 years,” he said. “It’s a terrific opportunity for our community to look long-term at the growth that’s steadily occurring and will continue to occur as the baby boomer generation retires.”
Cheney, on the other hand, took issue with the condition the city is currently in, noting a 10-year high in murders set in the city last year and the number of dilapidated and deteriorating houses still standing.
“The Lima I was born in and raised in, the Lima that was safe, prosperous and reminiscent of that shining city on a hill, is certainly not the Lima of today,” he said. “As your mayor, I will rebuild Lima into a thriving Midwest city that we will all be proud to call home.”
Glenn also took exception with the city when it comes to safety and economic development, saying that younger generations have no incentive to remain here.
“My main goal is to make our city safe and revive our neighborhoods,” he said. “We want more people to move into our neighborhoods and stay in our neighborhoods. We also want to make sure our kids stay here in our community.”
Positions taken by Berger during the debate included establishing a rental registration program for landlords, which would include fees to fund the program, continuing to push for efforts in workforce development to help young people gain needed skills in the region’s job market, and working to continue the momentum he sees in Lima’s downtown.
“From the mid-1990s to this point, there was roughly $60 million invested in a variety of projects in the downtown: the new YMCA, which I was a part of, the new hotel, which I was a part of, and the parking garage, which I was a part of,” he said. “Those happened over a spread-out period. We now have a series of projects coming out of the ground now in very rapid fashion that are building momentum for the community.”
Cheney called for increasing the staffing at the Lima Police Department, which he now says is staffed at “1950s levels.” He also calls for more private investment in the city rather than government grants, along with being more open and accommodating to businesses looking to come into the city. He also called for addressing insufficient property code enforcement and hold out-of-town landlords more accountable.
“I will have a program for those on limited income where we combine the public and private sectors to give them assistance to fix up their properties,” he said. “Code enforcement must become active in the properties that are currently rentals.”
Glenn believes the city should be placed under Critical Incident Management, pooling resources to address the city’s heroin epidemic. He also calls for $600,000 of general fund money to be set aside for homeowners to use to fix their properties while also strictly enforcing deadlines to address code issues.
“Our city needs a change,” he said. “I guarantee you, in two years, we could make it all happen. It’s not hard to do. We’ve got good folks like you out here wanting to make a change in our city.”
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