The Ada mayoral candidate forum on Wednesday, October 4 provided a public platform for the two men running for the four-year term to commence in January 2024. Incumbent David Retterer (Republican) and challenger Howard Fenton (Democrat) presented their qualifications, interests and ideas for serving as Mayor of the Village of Ada.
The candidates are friends and friendly rivals. Both worked as professors at Ohio Northern University. Retterer was an associate professor of math and computer sciences until retiring in 2012. Fenton was a professor of law until retiring in 2018.
The last competitive election for mayor of Ada was in 2002, when Retterer defeated Democratic candidate Jeffrey Schulman 625 to 284. Schulman had been elected in November 2000 to fill the unexpired term of Ronald Parshall, who resigned in July of 2000. Retterer subsequently ran unopposed for another four terms.
The November 7 ballot, including races for Village Council, Liberty Townshp Trustee and Fiscal Officer, and Member of Ada Exempted Village School District Board of Education, can be viewed HERE on the Hardin County Board of Elections website.
The hour-long program provided a variety of questions for the candidates. Moderator Robert Alexander, ONU professor of political science and Director of the Institute for Civics and Public Policy, read the questions. The audience gathered at the Dicke Forum was invited to add questions to those already prepared.
A portion of the questions and answers are paraphrased below. A video of the livestream from Dicke Forum is HERE.
Q. Why are you running for Mayor?
Retterer: To continue with the job that he has done for 20 years. Retterer said that he likes the job because it lets him be himself, a theme he elaborated on in later responses.
Fenton: To provide a fresh perspective for the community. Fenton stated that he wanted to focus on the need for more and improved housing in the Ada area.
Q. What agendas prompted you to run for mayor?
Fenton: A proactive planning process with community engagement. He emphasized the need for adequate family housing and managing community relations. He noted his administrative and grant management experience.
Retterer: To continue his work with the planning and tree commissions, to work with local and outside government entities, and to provide daily support for the village departments, most notably the police department.
Q. Tell us about being a public relations official.
Retterer: The incumbent talked about his conversations with people in Ada and on his travels, where he often finds people with Ada and ONU connections. He said “my job is to be a cheerleader wherever I go.”
Fenton: Noted that it is important that the mayor engage with all civic organizations and student groups. He suggested holding office hours and said this was among the mayor’s most important work.
Q. What are your approaches to economic development?
Fenton: Economic development needs to be done in a planned way. He noted that if a company wants to bring in 40 new employees, there isn’t suitable housing for them.
Retterer: Commented that while the village can’t build houses, it can and has done much to support this work by providing needed infrastructure such as streets and tax abatements for new facilities that create jobs.
Q. What are your thoughts on city infrastructure: streets, water, sewer, sidewalks and related assessments.
Retterer: If you don’t maintain it, it will go away. The Village has done a good job with this for a long time. It’s very expensive and some people complain when we do it. We do a good job timing work to make us competitive in grant applications.
Fenton: One of the most common complaints is about the unevenness of the sidewalks. In meetings since the first of the year, the council and Village Administrator Jamie Hall have done a good job with this issue, including grinding high spots. Would like to see curbs and sidewalks where traffic enters the village on Main St.
Q. Your thoughts on the Town & Gown relationship?
Fenton: This is the village’s most important relationship. We are lucky to have the university and its features in Ada. The lack of housing for faculty and staff results in those individuals not being part of the local schools, churches and organizations, which erodes the relationship. Regrets that there is no Town & Gown banquet this year.
Retterer: We’re one of the most diverse small towns in America. There are close to as many students as there are residents. We’ve got people from everywhere; it’s what the real world is about. He has had conversations with all of the university presidents.
Q. What skills do you have for public budgeting?
Retterer: I know that when it gets deep, I’m going to go see Patti Navin (fiscal officer) and Jane Napier (legal counsel) when it’s a legal question. Ada has a “weak mayor” form of government, that means he participates in the process, but it’s not his job to create the budget.
Fenton:” I’m sitting here with a mathematician who doesn’t want to do numbers!”
Retterer: “Math and accounting are two different things!”
Fenton: This is an opportunity when citizen engagement would be helpful. What discretionary money do we have and what is the most important place to put it? He feels the mayor has a “bully pulpit” to make suggestions.
Q. What ideas do you have to maintain and improve communication between elected officials and the community?
Fenton: In the last year, the village web page has become quite good. We’re all used to things being clickable. It’s important to be available at regular times and within the community.
Retterer: Every meeting we have is open to the public. I spoke with someone the other day about the parking on Grandview and Hays Ave. and I asked her if she had attended any of the meetings. She said that nothing she could say would impact what happened. He reminded listeners of the residents who demanded no sidewalks on Christopher Circle. He said, “You can fight city hall” if you respectfully come and deal with people.
Q. Are the abundance of residential rentals a concern?
Fenton: The absence of adequate housing for families is a problem. An issue that hasn’t been addressed is substandard student housing. Nice old houses that have been carved up into student rentals. Maybe our current zoning rules and enforcement are an issue. That would be one of my priorities.
Retterer: University policies about off campus housing have changed over the decades. When students were brought back on campus, unoccupied apartments “attracted the kind of people you don’t want to attract. We even had a meth explosion.” It’s a really difficult issue to deal with.
Q. What is your long term vision for Ada?
Retterer: Said he is still working on filling up the industrial park. Ada has the essential things needed to attract people: jobs, a nice park, a good school and places to eat. He looks forward to the brewery and renovation of the Regal Beagle and apartments above it.
Fenton: We need to add a place to live to that list. The question is how much growth and what kind of growth? What can our resources accommodate? We need to have five and ten year goals.
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