Outgoing Youngstown Mayor George M. McKelvey experienced many highs and a few lows during his

Outgoing Youngstown Mayor George M. McKelvey experienced many highs and a few lows during his political career.
November 1981: Elected Youngstown 3rd Ward councilman at age 31.
January 1983: Already known for his criticism of city practices and policies, the freshman councilman asserts that the Mayor George Vukovich administration lacks credibility and calls for an independent audit of the city's finances. During his first two-year term on council, McKelvey also criticizes a proposal to deregulate cable television service, the appointment of a deputy court bailiff, spending taxpayers' money to send council members to national conventions, and complains that Vukovich's annual salary of $44,949 is too high. McKelvey received $101,387 in salary this year.
November 1983: Wins re-election to a second term on council.
February 1984: Announces he will run for Mahoning County commissioner but never files nominating petitions.
May 1985: Says he will seek the post of county Democratic chairman in 1986 but doesn't run.
November 1985: Wins re-election to his third term on council.
February 1986: The Truman-Johnson Democratic Women's Club honors him as officeholder of the year.
March 1986: Withdraws from the Democratic primary for county auditor.
October 1986: Saying he finds it offensive that the county auditor will receive $62,000 in annual salary by 1990, he runs as an independent for the job, promising to take a pay cut if elected. The Youngstown schools superintendent says it's not a good idea for McKelvey, Adams Junior High School assistant principal, to keep that job and be county auditor. McKelvey says he'd work the auditor's job after school and on weekends. He loses the election in November.
April 1987: Unsuccessfully runs for council president in the Democratic primary losing to Michael Crogan. Leaves council at the end of December.
May 1988: Beats incumbent county Treasurer Michael Pope in the Democratic primary. Pope was running for his fifth term. McKelvey defeats Republican Dennis S. Vitt in the November general election.
January 1990: Resigns from the Youngstown School District under pressure from the school board that wants to fire him after its members refuse his request for a leave of absence.
November 1992: Wins re-election as county treasurer.
February 1994: Announces plans to run for state treasurer.
May 1994: Loses the Democratic primary for state treasurer, receiving 37 percent of the vote.
November 1996: Wins a third four-year term as county treasurer.
May 1997: Wins the four-person Democratic primary for Youngstown mayor.
November 1997: Wins the general election over a write-in candidate, becoming the city's 47th mayor. He inherits a city in state fiscal watch since late 1996 and says his first move would be to implement a plan to address the city's budget crisis and for the city to be more fiscally responsible.
January 1998: Begins a no-waste crusade starting with cutting free parking for city employees.
June 1998: Says a decision to pay off the city's debts with a $4.3 million Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation refund would give the state reason to get Youngstown out of fiscal emergency status.
July 1998: States his commitment to tearing up Federal Plaza to allow traffic to flow through it.
October 1998: Announces the city is moving closer to ending its state fiscal watch by cutting $6.6 million from its deficit in the first half of the year.
November 1998: Writes a letter to President Clinton asking for federal help to stop violence in the city. There were 47 murders in the city in 1998, the same number as in 1997.
January 1999: The U.S. drug czar visits Youngstown at McKelvey's request. McKelvey credits the meeting as a key reason why the city received a federal Weed and Seed grant for the South Side.
January 1999: The Clinton administration declines to designate Youngstown and Warren as a federal empowerment zone that would have made the cities eligible for $100 million in grants.
February 1999: Pushes a sidewalk vacuum around downtown to clean up the streets, drawing attention of passers-by.
March 1999: Orders no noncity calls be made on city telephones and reduces the number of public cars used by certain officials when city Water Commissioner Gary Thornton is disciplined for abusing the personal use of a city car.
May 1999: The state removes Youngstown from fiscal watch.
August 1999: Accepts an appointment to Gov. Bob Taft's Urban Revitalization Task Force.
December 1999: Unsuccessfully tries to persuade U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. to steer money for a convocation center to other projects.
February 2000: The city reports a $3 million surplus because of spending restraints.
June 2000: Hears from Traficant that the congressman obtained a $26.8 million federal grant to build a downtown arena.
August 2000: Puts a stop to paid parking meters in the city's downtown. The meters return in certain parts of downtown about two years later.
August 2000: Greets George W. Bush, the Republican presidential nominee, at a stop in Youngstown. It is the first time Bush and McKelvey, a Democrat, meet.
October 2000: Escorts Vice President Al Gore, the Democratic presidential nominee, to various stops in the Mahoning Valley. McKelvey says Gore told him if he won, Youngstown would get a federal empowerment zone designation. Gore loses the election a month later.
October 2000: Conflicts between Mahoning Democratic Chairman David Ditzler and McKelvey are reported. Ditzler is upset that McKelvey didn't publicly endorse Gore. McKelvey never makes a public endorsement of Gore, but in a letter to Ditzler, McKelvey writes that Gore "will confirm that I told him that he has my vote and my support." During the 2004 presidential election, McKelvey endorses Bush over Democrat John Kerry. In later years, McKelvey typically smirks when asked if he voted for Bush in 2000 and gives the impression he supported the Republican.
April 2001: Announces he wants to sell the city-owned Wick Building. The building wouldn't be sold until March 2005 for $125,000.
April 2001: Says the arena project should be scaled back if the private sector doesn't make up the funding gap between the money given to the city -- most notably a $26.8 million federal grant -- and the expected price to build it. The project's cost escalates and is estimated at more than $45 million.
August 2001: Calls the police saying there's a suspicious character, possibly a sniper, outside Anthony's On the River, where the private Cafaro Roundtable lunch is held with the mayor as a guest. The "suspicious character" is Robert Fitzer, a Youngstown State University instructor and member of the Citizens' League of Greater Youngstown. Fitzer is on the ground with binoculars and a notebook seeing who is at the get-together. When initially asked about the incident, Fitzer said he was birdwatching. No charges were filed.
November 2001: Wins his second four-year term as mayor, running unopposed.
April 2002: Projects a $2.5 million deficit for 2002.
November 2002: City voters approve a 0.5 percent city income tax increase, a measure supported by McKelvey. The increase brings the city's income tax rate to 2.75 percent, the highest of any Ohio municipality.
February 2003: Expresses anger over a low ranking given by a regional committee to get state funding to reopen Federal Plaza.
December 2003: Supports a plan to use the federal grant for the convocation center for downtown development. But when the idea fails to materialize, McKelvey enthusiastically gets behind the center project.
April 2004: Kerry holds a rally a short distance from city hall. McKelvey says Kerry's campaign didn't ask him to appear on the stage with other politicians. Kerry's campaign insists that isn't the case.
May 2004: Attends an invitation-only visit by Bush to Youngstown State University. The next day, McKelvey has dinner at a private event at the White House with Bush.
August 2004: McKelvey endorses Bush, attends the Republican national convention and received national media attention for his support of the president.
October 2004: Introduces Bush at an election rally at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport.
December 2004: A $2.9 million project to open Federal Plaza to vehicular traffic is finished with city officials saying it will revitalize the downtown area.
February 2005: Suggests Youngstown take over emergency 911 services for Mahoning and Trumbull counties.
March 2005: The city purchases 20 Federal Place, the former Phar-Mor Centre.
April 2005: Accepts the resignation of Jay Williams, the head of the city's Community Development Agency. Williams has to resign to run for mayor, and wins the race in November.
April 2005: Asks the law director for a legal opinion on prohibiting convicted sex offenders from living in the city. His request conflicts with state law, and the law director tells McKelvey in July that the prohibition cannot be enacted.
June 2005: Selected for a jury pool in the county's common pleas court and says, "If I'm in the jury box, the suspect is guilty." He also refers to himself as the "hanging mayor."
September 2005: Criticizes county officials for seeking additional financial assistance from the city to operate its jail. He says the county's prisoner release policy is illegal and is contributing to a crime wave in the city.
October 2005: The city-owned arena opens. A month later, it is named the Chevrolet Centre. McKelvey helps direct traffic at a number of the facility's events, even skipping a November city council meeting to do so.
December 2005: His second mayoral term expires.
Source: Vindicator files