Four candidates vie for three Wadsworth Council At-Large seats

WADSWORTH — A trio of multi-term incumbents are trying to hold on to their Wadsworth City Council At-Large seats with one challenger throwing his hat into the mix. Tom Stugmyer, incumbent Age: 64 Party: Republican Education: Physics and astronomy degree from the University of Mount Union Job history: 30-plus years worked as a manufacturing engineer at various facilities in the Akron area Website: n/a Patty Haskins, incumbent Age: 71 Party: Democrat Education: Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Akron Family: Two children and two grandchildren Job History: Served as a Wadsworth Schools teacher from 1973-2007 and as a Black River Schools teacher from 1971-73 Website: n/a David Williams, incumbent Age: 67 Party: Republican Education: Associate degree in marketing from Wayne College Family: Wife of 27 years; Susan Job History: 35 years in the auto industry with most of that spent in Wadsworth, now working in real estate sales Website: n/a Dan Rospert, challenger Age: 57 Party: Republican Education: Bachelor's degree from the Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science Family: Wife of 33 years, Belinda, and two children Job History: Owner and operator of Wadsworth's Hilliard-Rospert Funeral Home, insurance account executive, previous funeral home administrative work Website: n/a What makes you the best candidate for the position? Stugmyer: I don't like calling myself the best candidate. There are several good people out there and it takes a lot of elected officials to run the city. I look at my experience here in town being on the Wadsworth Area Chamber of Commerce board of directors, president of the Main Street Wadsworth board of directors, and several others that I'm on like the Salvation Army and Village of St. Edward. It gives me good, well-rounded input from a variety of sources to make good decisions for the city. Haskins: I've lived my entire adult life in Wadsworth and care very much about the residents. Living here has given me an understanding of the community and its needs. I'm also very passionate about the town and its history and feel that it's very important to keep up awareness of that history. Williams: I can use business principles to make good decisions for the people of Wadsworth. My experience dealing with the public at my business has made me a good listener. That's the number one thing you have to do in business, listen to other people. That's also very important in dealing with our citizens in making sure they know their needs are being met. Rospert: The fact that I've run businesses, know how to deal with people, and how to do it with common sense while abiding by the law. I've not been happy with the way things have been going in Wadsworth and I've been vocal about it. Then my thought was, "If I'm going to be vocal about it I should throw my hat in the ring and try and fix things." What is the biggest problem facing Wadsworth and how would you address it? Stugmyer: I can bring collaboration to the table from being involved in so many organizations to make sure we keep our same level of outside money and grants coming into the city. We've had something like $400,000 in grants come in that I've helped manage and Main Street has helped manage that have gone toward downtown building improvements. Then, those are matched by the city. That money leads to a lot of economic vitality that spreads further than just the downtown area. Haskins: We want to complete our downtown streetscape work, even though that will still be a number of years away. I'll remain focused on our roundabout at (state Route 57 and Seville Road) and our new fire station, which our first responders and citizens have wanted for a long time. A lot of work from all of our departments will go into these things." Williams: I think we're coming out of the shutdowns and there's projects we want to move forward with, such as a new fire station that's been on the drawing board for a long time to address our growing community. I think the biggest thing is just smart development. I also sit on the Medina County Planning Commission, so it makes me very community to tackle challenges in our communities and in others. I stick to my guns when it's time to get something done. Rospert: We have to examine our safety forces to make sure we're serving the population properly. We have a lot of senior housing and young families. We need to make sure there's enough ambulances on the road. They're out of our area a lot. I see attrition coming on our police department and I want to make sure we have enough officers in the future. With administration of the city, I want to see delivery of what the people want and better communications with the people and the businesses. Contact reporter Jonathan Delozier at (330) 721-4050 or jdelozier@medina-gazette.com.