The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Republican candidates calling for change
Those running for council seek charter, city government changes
Lorain voters should demand change for the better as the Lorain City Charter Commission drafts new rules of city government.
Voters also should know they have a choice among the candidates seeking to lead Lorain City Council.
Republican candidates seeking Council seats gathered April 28 at the Lorain County Republican Party headquarters to introduce themselves and their ideas of what should be included in Lorain’s new city charter.
Since December last year, the 15-member Lorain City Charter Commission has been drafting articles that will form the constitution of operating local government.
But the Republican candidates said the process is stifled by an 8-7 split — with Democrats commandeering the process.
“The Republican candidates believe this platform truly reflects the general public’s desire for change to Lorain, something that the Democratic members of the current Charter Commission are against,” said David Arredondo, an elected Lorain charter commissioner and executive chairman of the Lorain County Republican Party.
Meet the candidates
The group included five of six GOP contenders who will appear on the Republican primary ballot on May 4.
“The main reason I’m running is because I want to give the citizens of Lorain a voice in their own government and I think that I’d be a good person to do that,” said Lori Olson, a city charter commissioner and candidate for president of city council. Residents don’t get that chance now as much as they would like in City Council chambers, she said.
Lynne Christner, who is seeking an at-large Council seat, said she also wants to give residents a voice. Christner ran but did not win a seat on the charter commission.
Following it since then, Christner said residents don’t get a chance to talk to the commission and the members do not read aloud citizen suggestions sent in via email.
Lorain citizens want change, something new and different, said Brian Jameson, an at-large Council candidate.
“The folks that are in office now aren’t willing to change so we need to change them,” Jameson
said. “That’s my entire goal.”
John Schrenk, a retired city worker, is running for the Ward 7 seat. He said he wants to help the ward get services it needs from the city.
At-large Council candidate Jeremy Leighty said he hopes to give citizens a voice by using his experience as a liaison between customers and management of a company.
“I believe I can provide those same services to the citizens of Lorain,” Leighty said.
They met with Arredondo and fellow charter Commissioner Jessie Tower, a former Republican candidate
for mayor of the city.
In the May 2021 primary, Otis Jenkins also will be on the Republican ballot as a candidate for council at large. He was unable to attend the meeting.
Time for change
Among their proposals, the Republican candidates said the three of the biggest changes would be reducing City Council from the current 11 seats to seven, with four members elected by regional wards and three elected at large.
Cutting the number of Council members would pay for hiring two legislative aides qualified to assist them, Christner said.
Pro-charter
The candidates encouraged Lorainites to vote in favor of a charter with a clear process for amending it in the near future and over time.
Olson and Christner said Lorain’s current elected officials should not serve on future charter amendment commissions. There is mistrust because Lorain’s elected officials should not be on a commission that sets up their own job descriptions and possibly salaries, Christner said.
“That is not appropriate,” she said. The candidates and other people don’t get
that opportunity unless they work in a business they started, Christner said.
Lorainites under-represented
As for Lorain, there are about 7,900 Democratic voters, almost 1,800 Republicans and more than 32,000 voters not affiliated with a party, Christner said. So Council members must represent a lot of people who don’t have a voice by a party, she said.
“And they’re not getting that voice with the way things are going with this Charter Commission,” Christner said.
Arredondo outlined the Charter Commission split.
Eight members of the Charter Commission are either elected officials — Mayor Jack Bradley, Auditor Karen Shawver, Clerk of Courts Ted Kalo, Treasurer Terri Soto, Council President Joel Arredondo — or city employees — Assistant Safety-Service Director Rick Soto and Assistant Law Director Mallory Santiago.
He noted Charter Commissioner Mary Santiago is not employed by the city.
Along with David Arredondo, Tower and Olson, the other Charter Commissioners are Tim Carrion, Ruben Torres, A.J. Torres, and Dennis Flores, a former city councilman who has been affiliated with the Democratic Party but has split with its leadership on issues.