McConnahea (left) and Suever
LIMA — Delphos residents will select their next mayor during the Nov. 7 general election from among two write-in candidates with extensive experience in public service but who have never previously held elected office.
Andre McConnahea, a major with the Allen County Sheriff’s Office, and Wayne Suever, a former Delphos fire chief, are the official write-in candidates. Both are registered Republicans, although no party affiliation was required for their names to be included as write-in hopefuls.
One-term incumbent mayor Douglas Mullenhour, also a Republican, will not be a candidate for the position in the Nov. 7 election after his petition for candidacy was rejected by the Allen County Board of Elections.
Director Kathy Meyer said Mullenhour’s petition was “not filled out completely” and was ruled invalid.
“Our board is a stickler for that,” she said.
The candidates
A longtime city resident, Suever, 69, joined the Delphos Fire Department in 1973 and served as its chief for 13 years before retiring in 2004. He staged an unsuccessful campaign for the unexpired term as Delphos mayor in 2017. He said he was considering another mayoral bid this year and when Mullenhour was ruled ineligible he said to himself, “I think I’ll step forward and go for it.”
He believes his years of public service and an intimate knowledge of the community will serve him well as the city’s chief executive officer.
McConnahea, 40, has spent nearly 20 years as an employee of Allen County, the last 17 as a full-time employee of the sheriff’s office.
He obtained his bachelor’s degree in organizational leadership from what is now the University of Charleston and in 2016 earned a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Northwestern Ohio.
Ohio law permits a non-classified employee of the sheriff’s office to simultaneously hold an unrelated elected office and McConnahea plans to remain at his current position.
But after mulling the idea of a run for elected office in Delphos for years, that interest was heightened when Mullenhour’s re-election bid was derailed. When Suever announced his write-in candidacy the die was cast.
“I felt it was in the best interest of the community to have some options” in the mayoral race, he said.
Budget restraints vs. needs
The 2023 operating budget for the city of Delphos, which straddles the Allen-Van Wert county line, is approximately $36.6 million. Of that total, the annual general fund budget is nearly $6.8 million.
Both candidates discussed a drain on city finances that came as a result of state- and federally-mandated improvement to the city’s wastewater and water treatment facilities and how that deficit will affect the city’s future.
Suever said the city’s lingering debt of some $30 million associated with decade-old improvements is on track to be paid off in 2028 under the current repayment plan. In the meantime, “it’s been a drain on the residents, business and industry because the water and sewer rates had to be raised to pay off that debt and because money has to be set aside each year for the repayment.”
He said state regulations prohibit funds from the water and wastewater funds for being used to support the general fund, “but you can use general fund money to support those other funds. That has been done in the past,” Suever said, leaving some infrastructure needs unanswered. Road repairs top that list, he said.
“We won’t be able to do a major rebuild of our streets but we can gets some repairs done to greatly improve drive-ability in the city.”
McConnahea said digging out from under the weight of that debt is “a matter of keeping on track and making sure the debt is paid back in as timely a manner as possible without negatively impacting the residents.”
He said infrastructure needs remain the most important issue facing the city, with roadways, the municipal power grid and city-owned buildings all in need of re-evaluation.
“City streets and sidewalks are among the topics most often brought up by city residents,” McConnahea said. He believes some outside-the-box thinking could help improve the town’s infrastructure needs, including finding funds to update aging city buildings.
“We just have to find every possible resource available, be it in the form of grants or other alternatives. I believe there’s funding out there, and I believe there’s a way to make it happen,” McConnahea said. “I feel like I’ve established some good relationships over the years to make the changes that are necessary.”
Priorities and concerns
The candidates talked about other priorities they feel are important to Delphos residents.
“I would like to address train traffic and rail crossings throughout the city,” McConnahea said. “There is no excuse for a city of 7,000 people to be completely cut in half for long periods of time, occasionally forcing people to find county roads on the outskirts of the city to go around, or even worse, racing from crossing to crossing, trying to find an opening to beat the train. We need to reach out to the railroads and tell them, ‘We need your help. We need you to be a good community partner.’”
McConnahea would also like to pump new life into a feature that has played a key role in the city’s history but in recent years become little more than an eyesore.
“The Miami and Erie Canal has the potential to enhance and beautify Delphos, but right now it’s just in really bad shape. We need to reach out to the state to do everything possible to get the canal cleaned up. It’s part of the city’s heritage,” McConnahea said.
Suever said a challenge facing city leaders is the retention of its existing workforce.
“We’ve lost some qualified personnel in recent years and I want to put an emphasis on retaining our highly skilled professionals and making Delphos — as an employer — an attractive place to work,” Suever said. “And I have some concerns about the immigration issue. We have a find company here in town that employs a lot of immigrants. I just want to make sure that’s not going to be a problem for the city, as it pertains to crime and other obstacles.”
Final thoughts
Having spent most of his life in Delphos, McConnahea sees a community that is at a crucial turning point. “Delphos is on a route where it could be successful or it could deteriorate, and some key decisions are necessary,” he said. “Infrastructure needs are among the most important of those. I’m not naive but I think we can get there.”
He said one of the most-asked questions he’s heard is, “Why are you running for mayor?” His response comes from his own experience as a city resident.
“I have kids now, and I want my kids to grow up in Delphos like I did and, after they go off to college, I want them to come back here and raise their kids. I want to see a city that encourages families to return.”
Suever said Delphos requires a mayor who can spend the time necessary to solve myriad potential pitfalls.
“The mayor’s job is listed as a part-time position, but I don’t know how you can do justice to it as a part-time employee. It’s a full-time job, and I have the time, the energy and the experience that comes with 31 years of working with the city to do that. Public service is the bottom line.”
How to write in votes
Delphos voters will face a fairly unique challenge when casting their ballots in this year’s mayoral race, since no actual names will appear on the mayoral ballot.
What will appear is the familiar oval located next to a blank line. The oval must be darkened in order for a mayoral vote to be counted. Next to the oval is the line on which voters may enter the name of their candidate-of-choice. The oval must be darkened AND a name that is legible to election board officials must be entered on the line in order for the vote to be counted.
Meyer said a bipartisan team will look at each and every ballot during the tabulation process and make a ruling on the name that is filled in.
While it is predictable that “Mickey Mouse” and “Donald Trump” may get votes, Meyer said that names that are “somewhat close” to either McConnahea or Suever will be counted.
The tabulation process is time-consuming and no official winner is expected to be declared on the night of Nov. 7, Meyer said.
