The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
JUST A DUDE
Mayor Scott Jones looks to energize village
New South Amherst Mayor Scott Jones, sporting a brilliant handlebar mustache, is unapologetically himself.
The 36-year-old Jones has a background that includes creative ventures like attending film school, being in a rock band, rocking as a DJ and digital design.
He also has human resources and marketing experience, is an ordained minister and served two years as a South Amherst councilman before voters elected him mayor.
Jones talks fast and emphatically, which works for him and his goal to infuse South Amherst with energy.
Jones said he moved around a lot as a young child and has lived in and out of state, including Chicago, where he attended Columbia College Chicago’s film school.
He said over the course of his life, he has lived in 17 different homes.
However, Jones said he found a potentially permanent home in South Amherst, where he has resided for the last nine years with his wife and children.
“I call this place Canada,” he said. “I don’t know if you’ve ever been to Canada, but people are so nice there. It’s the same thing here.”
Jones said one of his goals as mayor is to help set up more fun events in South Amherst.
Often, residents have gone to surrounding communities for leisure and entertainment, he said.
“I want to have some concerts up at our park, utilize our park for movie nights,” Jones said. “I just want to see more camaraderie around the village.”
While Jones tends to focus on the positives, he said he recognizes the issues the village faces and how those issues require hard work to overcome.
He mentioned how South Amherst still deals with the negative effects of an embezzlement scandal by a village employee that happened in 2015.
“That’s all you hear about, unfortunately, with this town,” Jones said. “There’s a disconnect with trust in the government here, and I wanna bring that back if I can.
“Whatever I can do to make that happen, I want to do. And being an optimist, I look around and I see nothing but potential.”
Former middle school
Another issue South Amherst faces is what will be done with the South Amherst Middle School building that was left vacant in 2022 and purchased by real estate company IRG.
Jones said he has had conversations with IRG about what can be done there.
A pressing issue going on the village is the much needed update to its sewer system.
Jones said the village has applied for a more than $2 million grant from the state.
He said if the village receives the grant and the sewer system is revamped, it can help move forward a potential project at the old South Amherst Middle School as well as some other vacant spaces that Jones said have potential.
Jones is full of sports analogies.
He cited how the use of technology can help South Amherst advance more efficiently which he compared to how the early 2000s Oakland Athletics used analytics to get an edge with
a lower payroll than other Major League Baseball teams, a plan detailed in the movie “Moneyball.”
Jones also compared his own position as mayor to that of NFL head coaches who typically sign four- or five-year contracts similar to the four-year mayor term.
“I looked at this as like stepping up to be an NFL head coach,” he said. “If I’m not good and I can’t turn the team around, and we can’t get our defense in order, then they have to look for another guy.”
Jones said he also wants to use other village employees and the South Amherst community to their strengths, instead of trying to change things too much.
“Everyone in this building and outside of this building has been so welcoming and helpful with everything and all aspects,” the mayor said. “I can’t ask for anything better.”
Jones made it clear that he is willing to work with anyone, including the man he ran against in the 2023 mayoral election.
Former South Amherst mayor Dave Leshinski, who completed two terms at the end of 2023, recently agreed to take a role as sexton of the South Amherst Cemetery, according to Jones.
“Everybody thought it was crazy,” Jones said. “But again, why would I miss the opportunity to put somebody like that, that knows how to do that job, who’s willing to do that job, in that job?
“Why would I say no to that? Maybe there’s politics behind closed doors or something like that, but I don’t look at it that way.”
Jones said he wants people to know that he still is a community member, no different from the rest of South Amherst.
“Someone said to me, ‘I don’t trust politicians,’ “he said. “I said, ‘that’s good. because I’m not a politician.’
“I’m just a dude, being a dude, and I just want to help.”