The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
MAN OF MANY TALENTS
An artist occupies the mayor’s office
On a wall in Amherst Mayor Mark Costilow’s office is a professional photograph of several duck decoys he carved for an advertising campaign.
A published author of a duck decoy carving book, Costilow also owns a 400acre farm intertwined with sustainability and conservation.
For example, the farm grows 100 acres in 12-foottall grass with heavy fiber like bamboo for paper pulp to form into carryout bowls, he said.
Those bowls are a compostable replacement for styrofoam, Costilow said, adding similar to switching to organic healthy foods, restaurants are following a renewables trend for other products.
His underlying well-being revolves around his family, he said.
The mayor is married to Cheryl Costilow, a paraprofessional for about 10 years working with special needs students at Amherst Exempted Village Schools, he said.
Their son, Luke, 24, graduated with a degree in natural resources from West Virginia University, and works in a wetland reserve program in the Akron area with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
Their daughter, Audrey, 23, now works part time as a sterile technician at Mercy Hospital, and volunteers at a library and at schools. Audrey was born with Downs Syndrome, he said. And she votes her own way.
For example, when Audrey debated the positives and negatives of the Amherst Schools levy by absentee ballot last fall, she cried and said the levy made her sad because the people she knows in the schools would lose their building, he said.
But then, everyone seemed to want a nice new building, she told him.
She weighed it and marked her answer.
“I thought it was pretty neat how she thought it through,” he said, smiling.
When Costilow closes up City Hall for the day, his constant companion is a black Labrador retriever, Beulla Coffee Creek’s Joy.
Coffee Creek meanders through the Costilow farm about 90 minutes away in Ashtabula County, he says, adding he and Beulla run retriever training drills and other outdoor activities together.
And every chance he finds, Costilow tools to the farm to help Luke renovate an estimated 150-year-old farmhouse, he said.
“The fellow we bought it from was 90 years old,” Costilow said. “He was born in that house. His dad was raised in that house. They tell me it’s 150 years old. Whenever I get a spare day I’m up early and I’m down there, but always connected by phone. That’s the beauty of technology. It’s different from 10 years ago. I don’t think I could have run a business and a farm and been mayor without the technology.”
In October the Costilow family notches 18 years of owning Amherst Cinema at 260 Church St.
“It didn’t take me long to find out the ‘R’ rated movie wasn’t going to work for us,” Costilow said. “We’re a family-friendly venue, with mostly ‘G’ and ‘PG-13’ rated movies.
“There have been a lot of kids from Amherst who have worked there,” he said. “Over the weekend two kids who met there as teenagers got married. They met and went their separate ways, then found each other again. We also have a NASA scientist, doctors, dentists, kids who have gone on to great careers.
“I’m still the handyman,” Costilow said. “They still let me do that. I don’t take phone calls about the movies when I’m (at city hall). Some people do call city hall to find out what the movie is.”
His administrative assistant Jami Anderson directs them to visit www.amherstcinema.com, he said.
“People seem to find me, whether I’m at the movies and they want the mayor, or I’m at city hall and they want the movies,” Costilow said. “I have a young man who manages the place for me. He started when he was 15 years old. Now he’s in his 20s. I have new software. I can get on the computer in the evenings to see how ticket sales went.”
Raised in the Firelands Local School District near Florence, Costilow recalls exploits to the then small town.
“Amherst was where we came as kids,” Costilow said. “’If you’re good, we will go to Amherst,’ my parents said. To us, Amherst was the big city. We went to Lorain once in a while to Burger King. South Amherst was a big rival. We were separate schools then.
“Even though I wasn’t raised here, I always looked up to Amherst,” Costilow said. “I moved here 28 years ago when I got married. My wife was from Collins. They had a horse farm. Our dads’ retired from Lorain Ford Plant.”
Costilow paved a path leading 1 1/2 years ago to the mayor’s office with chairing the planning commission and zoning appeals board, two terms on city council, and four years as safety service director under Mayor David Taylor.
He learned in order to improve a situation, he needs to always tell the truth even if it’s not what a person wants to hear.
“I think I’ve gained trust that way,” Costilow said. “But you can’t fix everything. That’s the hardest
part of the job: Knowing you can’t fix everything. I enjoy — even though they’re tough — making those tough decisions and coming to a happy medium.”
No aspects of the mayoral duties were unexpected.
“None of it came as a surprise, really,” he said. “Once in a great while a discipline
issue with one of the employees catches me off guard, but nothing I would say surprises me.”
He’s most proud of adopting employee policies and job descriptions, keeping costs down, and developing the information technology department manned by former council member Steve Bukovac.
“There have been difficult decisions,” Costilow said. “The IT position, I took it to the Civil Service
Commission and I expected civil service to validate it. I didn’t get the answer I wanted. So I went the longer route, advertised the position and set it up that way. It’s going great.”
Whether on a city-wide scale or a do-it-yourself home project, Costilow aims to make a difference.
“I’ve always enjoyed organizing things, and being a volunteer and working with people,” he said. “So this is the perfect job.”