Candidates answer the public's questions

TIFFIN - Last Wednesday evening, the League of Women Voters of the Tiffin Area hosted its second candidates' night. Tiffin mayoral candidates John Spahr and Lee Wilkinson began the event with director of law candidates Zach Fowler and Gina Grandillo following. The questions were submitted by the public and read by Gene Chintala. Each candidate was given 2 minutes for an opening statement, to answer the question and for a closing statement. The A-T has chosen two questions for each office for publication. Mayor Q – What do you consider to be the jewels of the city of Tiffin? Spahr – What jumped right out at me when you said that is the river. The river is a big part of our city. Maintaining that and enveloping it and making it part of our day to day, the city has been doing that. The courthouse. I know that's a sore subject for some people, but it is a beautiful building downtown. Then the people. The best part of this campaign has been knocking on doors. I've really enjoyed the conversations I've had, even with people who don't necessarily agree with me, but we've had great conversations. The number one jewel of the city of Tiffin are the people. Wilkinson – The jewels of the city of Tiffin really are the people. I've knocked on over 5,000 doors in the past few months, meeting lots of people. People have been very gracious, letting me into their homes or coming out on the patio. Some of those conversations started with 'Come look at this. I want to show you this'. The universities are a part of the jewel of the city of Tiffin. They employ a lot of people, it's a great economic boost to the city to have those universities here. Q – Since the city council will have several new members, what do you anticipate when working through the learning curve? Wilkinson – I've already talked about the issue with several of the potential city council members and I'm hoping that after the election we can get together with the mayor and some of the current city council members and use November and December to work through the issues like a class, education of how to do the job of city council. So, that when we are all installed in January that we're on the same page, we know how everything is supposed to work and we can communicate and work well together. Spahr – Very similar answer although I think that's going to take longer than a couple of months. Frankly, November and December is budget season. There is not a heck of a lot of time for people. But there will need to be extra time taken, clearly, with people who have never been there and all the new people coming in. One way or the other, this is going to be a very young city council for the city of Tiffin. However, that has its benefits, too. You get new thinking. Sometimes when you make errors...those are your best learning opportunities. I've heard 'Gosh this is going to be a very young city council. They're going to make a lot of mistakes.' Everybody will and that's the best way to learn sometimes. I've thought maybe we need to have a class for everybody new to sit down and not just be able to talk through the issues but talk about the foundation of how this process works. So that everybody is comfortable when they come to those meetings. Law Director Q – Now that the law director will now serve as the city prosecutor, how will that affect the ability to do the other parts of your job? Fowler – One of the primary responsibilities of the law director is that you are, basically, the chief prosecutor. But the way it has always been, it is in the charter that you hire one full-time assistant law director that handles the prosecution. As well, we have, which is currently open, is a part-time prosecutor. So, really your role is oversight. But the big challenge is filling that. That goes a little bit beyond a law director issue. If you're part of the law community, one of the things you know is that the state of Ohio is hurting for attorneys. Grandillo – I think the job of city prosecutor coming back to city hall is a huge, exciting opportunity for the city of Tiffin. I welcome that opportunity as I do practice in municipal court on the regular. We do need an assistant prosecutor and a part-time assistant prosecutor as well. I am willing to take on those responsibilities, personally. I know that I'm one of the best people to do that because I've practiced in that court. Q – Will you continue your private practice, if elected? Grandillo – I do plan to continue working in the Gucker Law Office like I have been since I started my career here. A part of running for this job is that you would be running to defend the city, which also means the city police. So, that in effect, cancels you out from any kind of criminal defense. I was sorry to lose that part of my practice just because I do really enjoy it. But when I heard that the city prosecutor's office was coming back, that alleviated that burden. I plan to, obviously, stop practicing criminal defense but I will always be available for corporate, which is an experience I always enjoy as well. Fowler – Currently, the law director Brent Howard does exactly as Gine said. He works both in his private practice and for city hall. To my knowledge, that's how they all operate. I plan to follow suit. I've had this discussion with Brent. 'Do you think this is a full-time job? 'No, I just think there's not enough work there at the city to justify it being a full-time job.' I've talked with the mayor and city administrator, 'what is your guy's opinion? Would you like a law director here full-time?' They would like to see that there but there are constraints, one is there's not room at city hall for a law director. Two is that now that we're going to bring city prosecutors back to city hall, that no room just became even less room. We've looked into it, but it just doesn't make sense right now. I would be welcome to it if that changes. To watch candidates' night in full, visit the League of Women Voters of the Tiffin Area on Facebook. Tune in to Tuesday's edition of the Advertiser-Tribune for Tiffin city council and local school board's Q&As from candidates' night.