SEVILLE — In the midst of tough financial times, newcomers ousted four incumbents in the Village Council race Tuesday.
Incumbents Sue Frey, Bonnie Gordon, Courtney Harlan and Ralph Smith received the fewest votes in the eight-candidate race, which left the door open for Roger Kilgore, Barbara Schwartz, Rick Stallard and Kathy Rhoads to take seats on Council.
“This was probably one of the more contested elections I’ve ever seen in Seville,” Harlan said. “There was a great deal of feeling in many sectors.”
Schwartz, Kilgore and mayor-elect Carol Carter campaigned together with the slogan: “With your vote and my voice, a better Seville is the right choice!” They also used weare4seville.org on the Web to mobilize support.
“We were just honest, and I think voters wanted new faces,” said Kilgore, who served on Council from 1992 to 1999. Rhoads also was on Council from 1994 to 1999.
Stallard speculated the voters’ reasons for dropping the incumbents was financial, as the village is faced with service cuts due to the loss of industry such as Schneider National and falling tax revenues.
The purchase of a party center that is now the Seville Municipal Building was a major point of contention with many voters, Stallard said. The village will pay $9,500 a month until 2025 for the building, which is appraised at $478,640.
“It’s a beautiful facility, but I don’t think that’s good economic planning in this economy,” he said.
While campaigning, Schwartz and Rhoads said residents told them they thought tax dollars were being mismanaged. Even with the renewal of a 2-mill levy Tuesday for operating expenses, the village is facing service cuts.
“I don’t think the village residents felt their money was well spent,” Rhoads said. “They want to maintain a certain level of services, and that’s going to be difficult to do now.”
All the new Council members acknowledged there is a long road ahead to get the village financially healthy, and they cited economic development as a way to raise tax revenues.
“The village of Seville is conscious about maintaining its quaint, rural atmosphere, but they don’t want to pay exorbitant taxes, so we have to seek a balance, and try to develop smart while maintaining the lifestyle we want,” Rhoads said.
Gordon said she was surprised voters were against the annexation of 103 acres slated for industrial development, but voted for Council people who were proponents of the same annexation, with the exception of Rhoads.
“I was very surprised, basically, because out of all the new people voted in, many were in favor of the annexation but the annexation didn’t pass, so I was very surprised,” said Gordon, who opposed the annexation.
New members will be sworn in at the Jan. 11 Council meeting, joining Councilmen Richard Barbera and James Lovejoy.
“They’re coming into a tough time economically, and they have a lot of tough decisions to make with the budget,” Frey said. “It’s not going to be an easy job. I wish them all the best.”
Contact Lisa Hlavinka at (330) 721-4048 or lhlavinka@ohio.net.
