Initiative Petitions
Petition copies were handed out to all of the FAAA members in attendance, with an instructional document.
Verify that they’re a registered voter in Findlay and have them fill in their information (sign like they sign their driver’s license). We are aiming to get 1800 signatures, though our minimum is 1278. These initiatives will be on the ballot in November 2024.
Motion to suspend the normal rules so we can get to our speakers: 1st Joe, 2nd Russ.
Candidates
We invited all candidates running in contested elections, but not everyone was available to attend.
Shaun Mason – 3rd Ward City Council
Lives on Bright Rd near St Michael, degree in computer engineering from ONU.
He’s been an independent voter but decided to register as a Democrat to run for council. He did that to signal that he’s different from the current administration, and we need competition in Findlay. The more candidates we have, the better candidates we’ll have, to drive the city in a better direction.
His platform is that Findlay has a lot of jobs, but it doesn’t have good jobs. Findlay has a dire need to build more housing. We have a lot of people who want to live in Findlay, but they can’t find a place to live. Those who work in warehouse jobs can’t afford to live here. We can’t fund the schools right now without growing the tax base and the voting base.
He is giving an alternative view from what he sees at City Council meetings. Many things are decided before they actually get to the meeting. There is not a lot of listening to people. Whether they favor policies or not, they should listen to the people.
Beth Warnecke – 3rd Ward City Council (incumbent)
She didn’t know she was supposed to prepare anything. She has met with a few people in our group regarding the Strategic Plan.
She moved to Findlay to go to Findlay College, degree in accounting and computer science. She has been on Council for 4 years. She and her husband run small accounting businesses. She brings common sense, financial background, and character to Council. You can’t please everyone, so you try and please the most you can.
Randy Otermat – 4th Ward City Council
Lives on Sixth St. He’s lived in Findlay for 31 years, and he graduated from BGSU in education, political science, and sociology. He operated the Avis rental car facility at Marathon. He dealt with all kinds of people in that role.
He is running as an independent because he thinks that party politics should not have anything to do with city government. The focus should be on what’s best for the city. He does not have rental properties currently; he did briefly and did not have a good experience with it. He respects landlords through knowing the work that goes into it.
He believes that government should be limited and identifies with the libertarian party. “That government is best which governs least.” (Thomas Jefferson, maybe) “The government is not the solution to the problem; government is the problem.” (Ronald Reagan) Almost every piece of legislation takes away freedom. The first two amendments are the most important – freedom of speech, and the right to bear arms. The 10th Amendment is also important – if it’s not listed in the Constitution and it’s not a federal power, it belongs to the people or the states.
For Findlay, he would focus on any introduction of legislation the city tried to pass on landlords will be carefully looked at. We all know it’s BS that all landlords are bad and slum lords. Registries are not okay; they’re only used for the government to know who to come after when they want to come after you. He would like to work on more programs that address the drug issue in this town, which is the root of many other problems. He’d like to expand neighborhood watch programs and things like neighborhood block parties to make people feel like they belong. We need to interact with our neighbors more.
We need to maintain neighborhood integrity. Apartment buildings do not belong in some neighborhoods. The YMCA issue caused a lot of trouble neighbors. He’s not against progress, but it should be where it belongs. He will not be a rubber stamp for the mayor or a party.
Rob Love – 4th Ward City Council
He was born in Findlay and actually got married in the DAV. He married his high school sweetheart and joined the army after high school. He is a family man and involved in sports with his kids.
He was broke in the 4th ward as a kid, and now he has a nice house in the 4th ward. He has been involved in this community. He is running on his passion for his town. He is for an open-door approach so the people feel like they have the ability to approach representation in this city.
In 2022, he was on the community outreach team for the city. That drove his desire to represent the city in the government.
Dan DeArment – 4th Ward City Council
He won the Republican primary in the spring with 51% of the vote. He’s vying for Jim Slough’s place on the council.
He’s running on community service, which he’s been doing for the last 31 years. He’s been involved in Coats for Christmas for a lot of years. His wife runs the block party in their neighborhood. He also volunteers on the City Planning Commission for the last 8 years. The Planning Commission looks at new things coming into Findlay, whether industries, neighborhoods, apartment buildings, etc. They look at parking, setbacks, etc. That has exposed him to the people who run this city.
The city is responsible for a lot of infrastructure – roads, sewers, water, flood mitigation, etc. Infrastructure is his wheelhouse. He’s a civil engineer from Penn State. He worked on a lot of water treatment projects and bridge design. He got his PE license, then got into the landfill business – inspections, construction, etc. Then he managed landfills in Bellefontaine and Carey, which is like running a construction company. He worked for OHM, moving to Findlay in 1992. He did remediation at military bases. For the last 20 years, he managed a team to burn flares at landfills. They drill wells throughout the landfills to gather the gases and burn them, generating power with it.
He retired 2 years ago, and he still feels like he has a lot to give back to the city. The city could benefit from his engineering expertise in infrastructure. He believes we do not need residential construction codes. He’s a big DIY-er and appreciates remodeling houses.
Heather Pendleton – Hancock County Prosecutor
She is currently an assistant prosecutor for Hancock County. The county prosecutor prosecutes felons, whether from the city or the county.
She became licensed to practice law in OH 17 years ago, receiving her law degree from ONU (undergrad from UF). She worked two jobs at the same time and enjoyed it. She had her own LLCs doing basic legal work. Phil Riegel asked her to be an assistant county prosecutor, and she took that full-time job, for the last 7 years. She makes a difference for the city, the county, and the community, and this is what God has intended for her to do.
She has already been working the job and working with the people as the assistant prosecutor, so she is a natural fit for the actual county prosecutor job. The election for this position will be held on March 19, 2024.
She’s been working for the Hancock County Republican Party for 17-18 years, and they finally made her chair.
Can a woman do this job? Is she tough enough? She carries a firearm and knows how to use it. Her father was a marine, Vietnam veteran, so she was raised in a discipline-filled house. She owns and runs 6 rental properties, so she has a thick skin and is tough.
Q&A
Jamie Cunningham: Safety is always at the top of our list for our city. What’s going on in Israel is coming to our soil if we don’t get things taken care of. Question for Dan: Our city wants to regionalize water, partnering with cities and villages outside of Findlay. What can you bring to the table with your expertise? How do you feel about what they’re proposing?
Dan: A water line was recently run to Van Buren State Park. They want to upsize the line, but it’s already oversized. Now they have to flush the lines, which is a waste. For regionalizing water… North Baltimore: they have a current system, they just want to buy more water. Findlay has a lot of capacity, and the system is overdesigned with the big reservoir, etc. That would help the purging and wasting of water. Arlington: they haven’t necessarily kept up with their maintenance. Findlay wouldn’t want to walk into partnering with a broken system.
Russ Cunningham: What’s the benefit for Findlay in this?
Dan: Revenue. North Baltimore could help that, but Arlington may not be helpful.
Tom Ross: The mayor is stating that she wants to raise water rates, even though she campaigned not to. Beth, what are your thoughts on this?
Beth: It’s not her area and she didn’t know that they could sell water until recently. Based on the numbers, it’s almost a wash to sell water to North Baltimore. It’s not an unheard of situation; Lima does this, and Columbus might. There are so many EPA regulations to make water safe, so it’s not logical for places like McComb, Rawson, etc. to be able to recoup the costs to get water to their people. The water rates to other cities would be 1.5x what they are in Findlay. It’s not something that Findlay looked to do; they were approached by North Baltimore. [There is disagreement on this point.] If we want to do this, what kind of contract would we need to protect the city? We can look into helping our neighbors in this way.
Jamie: What about the privatization of water? Monopolies are not good.
Dan: That would never happen and I would fight that!
Shaun: I don’t have a strong opinion because I don’t know the numbers. Does it actually help keep rates down in the city? Do we have the infrastructure? But I’m highly suspicious of the project because of the shadiness regarding Jon Cross and things that happened in Council. Someone needs to ask the question. Council has the power of the purse, and they should have insight into what the mayor is spending our money on.
Tom: Our Findlay water system is actually undersupplied with water. We would be rationing water if there was a drought, especially if we are selling water to other communities.
Sue Williams: We had a serious drought in 1988 and water was limited. I think it’s wrong for the mayor to do this, and I would vote against it.
Dan: What was our daily consumption back in 1988 when Harris used a very large percentage of water? We would need to understand the data then versus the data now.
Tom: Land banks – for or against? They can seize your property without paying for it and auction it off to whoever they want.
Dan: No opinion.
Randy: Against land banks.
Rob: Against land banks.
Beth: Done by the county, not the city, so I don’t care.
Shaun: Against land banks.
Heather: Hell no!
Tom: Would you be for or against rolling back the draconian zoning rules regarding duplexes and triplexes?
Dan: Keep them.
Randy: I’d need to review them, but if there was anything not supposed to be there, I’d repeal it.
Rob: It would need to be done on a case-by-case basis.
Beth: I’d leave it as is, I wasn’t aware there was a problem. I’d have to look at the reasons.
Shaun: Findlay needs housing. Higher-density housing has to be a thing. I’m against rules that prevent that.
Heather: I am fighting with Fostoria right now against implementing these same policies.
Tom: (Question from someone else): Would you consider creating a felony conviction for any tenant who causes $X of damage on a property? No one is standing up for us as landlords. They destroy our houses, and it’s so hard for us to get them out, much less to repair the damage. We as landlords don’t have rights like the tenants do, contrary to what the mayor says.
Dan: There definitely needs to be a penalty for them, though maybe not a felony.
Heather: I’m not a huge proponent of making more laws because we have enough. But something as simple as theft > $1k is a felony, so why isn’t destruction of property in that same category? There may be another law on the books that we could use in that way.
Charlie Williams: Near Western & Lima, a house burned down but the garage is in perfect condition. They’re going to tear it down because it has no address. Harrington says to me that you can’t speak negatively in City Council.
Beth: I’d have to look at the rule book, I don’t know where that’s at.
Charlie: I like to raise hell, just a little bit. They had 2 policemen in City Council because I was there asking questions.
[Discussion about that garage on Western with Robin Welly from West Park]
Charlie: I’ll vote for any of you if you start being honest.
Tom: Some of these zoning codes are draconian and not fair, such as you can’t have a gravel approach on your driveway.
This group represents $480M of real estate in this town. This group deserves to be heard. We deserve a seat on the zoning committee. We’re asking the mayor for that, and she refuses. Real estate people have a permanent seat, why not landlords? Would you do that?
All: We are here tonight to listen to you.
Randy: City Council is just worried about getting meetings over.
Jamie: Everything is an emergency! Why is that? Not everything is an emergency!
Wanda Fruth: Why is “emergency” on almost everything now?
[86% of legislation is passed on emergency]
Randy: I first saw this with the Blanchard St issue. They passed this on emergency so that it can’t be easily overturned.
Beth: I’m not a lawyer, but there is a reason for things being passed on emergency.
Tom: The council can define what constitutes an emergency so that in an actual emergency, the governor doesn’t have to get involved. The council has accepted the mayor’s narrative to pass things on emergency so the people can’t provide comment and can’t easily overturn it.
Randy: Jeff Wobser proposed removing the emergency measure for the park north of the river, and that passed. There will be a vote for that.
David Hans: I’m the new guy, so I’m impacted by a lot of this. I’m taken aback by the dissonance in the room and the frustration for the lack of voice for the landlords. I think it’s a two-way street; how can we work together? If you are elected, what’s one measurable action item you would commit to to bridge that gap?
Dan: I read the 260+-page zoning code. [Tom has read it and submitted comments, but we were told our comments don’t matter.] My action item is to see the comments from Tom and the group.
Tom: They directly impact our business, and they won’t give us a seat at the table. We should have been heard, but we weren’t. We have tried every avenue to get in.
Rob: A better way to move forward with this is to meet individually with council members rather than the whole council at the meeting. Go to your ward representative first and have a conversation with them.
Linda Bishop: How do you feel about giving the land in West Park to Habitat for Humanity?
Randy: Initially, I thought that would be cool, but when I started digging into it, it looked more like it would create a disaster for the people down there. I would prefer to see it as some type of wetland to help drainage.
Shaun: I was in favor of it initially because I’m for housing, but those initial thoughts were misguided. Holly Frische filled me in on things I didn’t know. It’s appalling that there are not good city services for the entire city. It would create a very bad situation for that neighborhood. Holly and I often don’t agree, but I appreciate her taking the time to help me understand the issues that would impact that area. I’m heavily in favor of Habitat houses, just not there.
Robin Welly: They put a moratorium on apartment buildings in West Park; single-family dwellings only. The streets cannot accommodate anything more than single-family homes. They’ll add more homes, but they won’t add apartment buildings. If you can put a moratorium on apartment buildings, how can you still build more houses? West Park has 43% of Habitat’s builds in Findlay.
Shaun: I want to make a point about the lack of minutes for the ad hoc meetings. Most of them are not actual minutes. I would suggest that the lack of minutes is a violation of the Ohio Sunshine Act.
Dan: I don’t think the city should be in the business of giving taxpayer money away. I also think it’s going to be cost-prohibitive to develop that property just for the infrastructure. We’d need to improve the whole neighborhood. It’s very expensive because of the bedrock.
Jamie: How much personal time do you invest in volunteering, and what do you do?
Heather: I do a lot for the Republican Party, Open Arms domestic violence shelter, time and resources to an autism group, Habitat, SAFY, Women’s Resource Center.
Shaun: As a father of 4 daughters, I spend a lot of time at sporting events. United Way Days of Caring when I can.
Beth: We run small businesses, so we can’t volunteer during tax season, we just don’t have time.
Rob: My volunteering has been coaching sports teams through various local organizations, plus Wreaths Across America.
Randy: I recently volunteered and haven’t figured out what to volunteer for yet. My wife had a lot of health issues, but I got a part-time job driving for Chrysler. I’m looking for volunteer opportunities to do with veterans, helping the elderly, coaching football & basketball.
Dan: St Michael’s ministries, Hancock Leadership, youth leadership, Coats for Christmas 20+ years, tulip sale for Parkinson’s, City Planning Commission.
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