VAN WERT – While early voting has started, many will head to the
polls on May 8 to vote in the primary election. During this election, Van Wert
County residents will vote on who will fill a County Commissioner
position. While Vicki Profit is looking to be newly elected, incumbent
Thad Lichtensteiger is looking for a re-election.
Lichtensteiger
grew up in the Convoy area and went to Crestview. While at Crestview, he
was class president for four years, was FFA president, and a state FFA
officer. Lichtensteiger then went on to graduate from Ohio State
University. After graduation he continued to work on the family farm. He
explained that he’s been in leadership positions for his entire life,
including a total of 15 years on the Crestview Board of Education. After
his children graduated from Crestview, he sought a different way to be
involved in the community and ran for County Commissioner. To date, he
is in his eighth year as Commissioner.
Lichtensteiger is also
currently the chairman of the Van Wert County Republican Party, and has
held positions as a Van Wert County Foundation trustee and is on the Van
Wert County Farm Bureau board.
Lichtensteiger noted that one of
the greats accomplishments in Van Wert County since he’s been County
Commissioner is the re-framing of economic development and the hiring of
economic development director Stacy Adam.
“We spent a lot of
energy, probably three or four months of hammering things out, and
lobbing ideas back and forth,” said Lichtensteiger. “We said it’s got to
be the City and the County together and it’s got to be accountability,
and we’ve got to fund it.”
The City and the County came up with a
nine-member Van Wert Area Economic Development board. Re-organizing
economic development and hiring Adam allowed for many endeavors in Van
Wert including the creation of the Land Bank, which helps the County
tear down blighted houses, and a combined Revolving Load Fund between
the City and the County, which loaned out around $400,000 in Revolving
Loans to businesses last year.
Lichtensteiger also noted electric
aggregation as an accomplishment during his eight years in office.
Electric aggregation allows for bids to be put out so that electric
customers are getting the cheapest rates possible. Van Wert residents
recently saw a change in electric providers from First Energy to AEP.
“Since
the start of electric aggregation, which was in my first term, the
total savings to Van Wert County residents is between $2.5 and $3
million,” said Lichtensteiger.
Some other notable accomplishments
Lichtensteiger cited were the restoration of the Courthouse dome, saving
money on County insurance with a savings $700,000 in the first year of
bailing out of the previous plan, and saving the County $365,000 after
an audit of a grant for a sewer project.
One of the most heated
topics during the 2018 County Commissioner election has been the topic
of renewable energy. Lichtensteiger stated that when wind originally
made it’s way to Van Wert he was totally on board, but as he began
talking to his constituents, he developed a different view of the topic.
“I
don’t know how you ignore your constituents,” said Lichtensteiger who
cited hearing many stories from those who do not support wind. “I have
to make decisions on their behalf, but I also have to represent their
wishes too.”
Lichtensteiger said, however, that he could debate
either side noting that wind does brings substantial money to area
schools, including Lincolnview and Crestview who have received
substantial money from the Blue Creek project. He also stated, though,
that he feels there is more to the issue than the money.
“One of
the misconceptions though, I would say, is that somehow the
Commissioners are keeping a project from moving forward, and that is not
true,” said Lichtensteiger. “What’s keeping anything from going forward
in the way of wind is the extended setbacks they (the State) put into
place three or four years ago.”
“Ultimately, as County
Commissioners however we handle this is going to be decided by the rules
that the State Legislator gives us,” added Lichtensteiger. “It is now;
that’s what’s preventing us from doing anything now.”
Lichtensteiger
said he feels a vote by those affected by wind turbines would be
appropriate. A purposed bill, Senate Bill 238, would give a vote to only
those in the footprint of a perspective wind farm.
Lichtensteiger
also spoke on the topic of Van Wert’s drug problem, noting that one of
his first endeavors as Commissioner was speaking to then-Sheriff Stan
Owens about what he needed to help the County keep drugs out of the
hands of citizens.
From that conversation, a deputy was added to
the West Central Ohio Drug Task Force to help prevent drugs from
entering Van Wert County. Lichtensteiger also pointed to the recently
established Drug Court as an accomplishment. Drug Court is an extensive
program that holds drug offenders accountable with drug tests weekly, if
not daily.
Lichtensteiger said that the drug problem will be an
ongoing issue and is not something that the County can get rid of by
throwing money at.
He also explained that the County recently
worked with the Sheriff’s Department to purchase a body scanner in the
County Jail to prevent visitors from smuggling drugs to inmates.
Lichtensteiger
said he’s made it his goal during his time as Commissioner to listen to
the people of Van Wert County and serve them as best he could. He
addressed a recent advertisement insinuating that he would rather raise
taxes on Van Wert residents which he said he finds “offensive.”
“The
only conversation that we’ve ever had as Commissioners is ‘how can we
cut taxes,’” said Lichtensteiger noting that he and the other
Commissioners are fiscal conservatives. “If we can lower taxes, that’s
just another way to get business to come here.”
Lichtensteiger
said he’s never thought about raising taxes and instead focuses on
living within the means available to the County.