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3 run for mayor’s office in Campbell
By jeanne starmack
campbell
Three city-hall veterans are vying for the mayor’s post, which is up for grabs in the Nov. 8 general election.
They are: incumbent William VanSuch, who also has been a 2nd Ward councilman, council president and city administrator; Lew Jackson, who is 4th Ward councilman and has been city administrator; and Nick Opencar, who has been city treasurer, council vice president and council president.
VanSuch, who was council president from 1990 to 2000 and then again from 2004 until he took over after the resignation of Mayor George Krinos in January, said the two jobs are very different.
“In this seat, there’s so many obstacles,” he said. “Things come every day, whether it’s a pothole or a problem with water.”
VanSuch, who has had some health problems, said he got a good report from his doctor at the Cleveland Clinic, and that was the deciding factor for him on whether to run again.
“He asked me what I was doing different, and I said, ‘Doc, don’t fall over; I became mayor of a city,’” VanSuch said last week in his office.
“He said some people handle stress better,” he added.
VanSuch said that when he first started, he worked 50 hours a week but is now down to 40.
“I’m retired and willing to do what it takes to help us progress a little bit,” said VanSuch, whose priorities are getting the city out of state financial receivership; road resurfacing; and attracting businesses to the city.
He also wants to improve the city’s ISO firefighting rating, which affects insurance rates for businesses and homeowners.
He said his first priority as mayor in January was to settle contracts with police, firefighters and street and water-plant workers, and he did that.
Jackson, who was hired as a part-time administrator in 2008 under then-Mayor Jack Dill and became full-time administrator under Krinos, said his dismissal from the post and the return of Dill, who is now administrator, prompted him to run.
The city council and Krinos often were on acrimonious terms. When Krinos resigned, VanSuch, as council president, became mayor in accordance with the city’s home-rule charter. He dismissed Krinos’ secretary and Jackson.
“I didn’t like the way that was handled,” Jackson said. “There was no reason in the world for Mr. Dill to come back,” he said, adding that “the voters had made their decision” when they elected Krinos over Dill in 2009.
Jackson is now 4th Ward councilman. He replaced Juanita Rich when she became council president after VanSuch became mayor. He said he is in the race for mayor rather than council because he likes the administrative side of running the city.
His priorities, he said, include a brownfields project that involved getting a grant for a road and a new sewer lift station. The road and lift station would allow Sherman International to move forward with a plan for a new steel mill.
He said bringing jobs to the city and road resurfacing are priorities.
Opencar, who was the city’s treasurer from 1966 to 1972, said money is the city’s biggest problem and his biggest priority.
The city has been in state receivership since 2004 and hopes to ask for release from it by the end of this year.
He said he would do whatever is necessary to achieve that.
“If there’s a problem with administration, it has to be taken care of,” he said.
He also said road resurfacing and the ISO rating are priorities.
He said he would like to explore whether there is money in the budget to hire more firefighters.
He said he decided to get back into the political arena because he has “a hard time dealing with the city, the way it’s handled right now.”
He said the city’s appearance and image bothers him. “I just feel I have the leadership qualities to get us back on track,” he said.