NELSONVILLE, Ohio — Despite a tumultuous year in the Nelsonville city government, candidates for Nelsonville City Council in the Nov. 7 general election were largely in agreement on city issues at an League of Women Voters of Athens County election forum, held Oct. 10.
Since late 2022, the city’s government and administration has undergone what seems to be endless turnover, with eight council resignations over nine months, and six city managers in 10 months — making this election cycle feel critical to candidates and city residents.
Participating in the Q&A-style forum were six residents vying for three four-year terms, including incumbents Doug Childs, Tony Dunfee and Dan Sherman as well as Rita Nguyen, former administrative assistant to the Nelsonivlle city manager.
Also running for those seats, but not present in the forum, are incumbents Justin Booth and Nancy Sonick. Two groups of candidates have aligned in this race, with Booth, Childs and Dunfee on one ticket, and Nguyen, Sherman and Sonick on another.
Held at The Lodge at Hocking College, around 20 people attended the roughly hour-long forum, where candidates gave opening and closing statements and answered questions submitted by the audience.
Rental upkeep
A WOUB reporter asked for the candidates’ stances on the state of rental housing in Nelsonville, and how, if elected, they planned to “better enforce the rental code.”
Nguyen described the city’s state of the city’s rental housing as “deplorable.”
“There needs to be change that needs to happen within council,” Nguyen said. “There has to be some accountability to the folks that own the homes. They should be providing adequate housing for the folks that are leasing from them, because everyone deserves a good place to live.” She expressed willingness to update the rental code. “It is very important to me and in dire need of some updating for sure.”
Current council president Dunfee agreed that the code needs to be updated. “A lot of landlords have zero accountability,” he said. “They do not care about their tenants. They’re nothing more than a paycheck and they’re living in substandard conditions.”
Dunfee said that he is a landlord. According to city records, as of February 2023 Dunfee and his wife own 10 rentals in the city.
Sherman also hopes to pass more strict legislation and said he helped set up the city with iWorks, a software used by the city code office. “What we need to do is update our policies and have proper training with the code officer and city manager,” he said.
Childs added that code legislation should make it to the council within the next two meetings, and that he would like the city to increase its code enforcement capacity by having one full-time or two part-time code officers.
Improving Nelsonville image
The candidates were asked how the council can improve the city’s image.
“I think that we need to pay attention to the small things in this town,” Dunfee said. “Appearance is everything.” He added that the city could improve its image by continuing waterline and street improvements.
Sherman agreed. “It’s a beautiful area if you look around,” he said. “We just need to clean up what we have and the way to do that is through proper training with our people and a council of seven agreeing on what’s the next step.”
Childs said he would like to “revitalize” the city via grant funding. “I think as a council, our job is to go out and find out what kind of funds are available that we can use to improve the image of the city, the infrastructure.”
Nguyen agreed that “image is everything.” She said she “looked past the trash in the streets,” when she first moved to the city. She said she would encourage homeowners to tend to their own homes and work together to keep the city looking good.
Annexation
All candidates support annexing properties on the city’s borders. Sherman said there are little disadvantages to annexation. Childs agreed, but noted possible disadvantages such as potential loss of community identity for those whose properties are annexed.
“When we annex, we need to make sure that we’re welcoming in a larger part of our new community, but recognizing that they have historical roots of their own, and they need to maintain that identity,” Childs said.
Nguyen said Nelsonville has the potential for growth and agreed upon the importance of working together when annexing.
Dunfee said that when he first joined the council, he thought negatively of annexation. With the city’s healthy general fund and police and fire resources, he said, annexation is a positive thing. “We’re in a better position to offer annexation or to go after annexation,” he said.
Infrastructure needs
Childs said the city is actively working to identify infrastructure needs — from sidewalks to streets and water lines — and taking action.
“I believe if you take a look around over the next two years, you’re going to see a much improved city, and you’ll see that the infrastructure issue is being addressed and we are making progress,” he said.
Nguyen said that repairing old water lines and streets are top priorities. Dunfee, like Childs, cited ongoing work in the city and listed water as the top priority, as well as sewer and stormwater infrastructure.
Sherman agreed with other candidates, pointing to inflow and infiltration problems caused by rainwater. “The infrastructure is getting better,” he said. “We’re going street by street, line by line.” He added that it’s important to pave streets properly after working beneath them.
Council-city manager relations
It’s “very important for the council to work hand-in-hand with the city manager, because at the end of the day, it is one body, it is the governing body of Nelsonville,” Nguyen said.
She believes the relationship between the council and city manager can improve, including having open meetings and “allowing for open discussions without the backlash and being able … come together … and be one.”
Earlier this year, Nguyen was criticized at a council meeting by current member Cory Taylor for what he called “disparaging comments regarding another city resident and former city manager.”
Dunfee said that the council’s “main job is to take the concerns of the citizens, also to legislate and appropriate.” The council and city manager work together to take care of resident concerns, and collaborate in ways to find solutions. “All council has to do to make it work is to listen to (the city manager), listen to the citizens of the community, and work together. It’s not rocket science.”
Sherman said it’s important that council “speaks as a whole to the city manager,” also believing that the council and city manager should work “hand-in-hand.”
Childs agreed, adding, “There has to be a three-way relationship between the community, the council and the city manager. … What we need to get away from is this cult of personality and just focus on policy.”
Five-year vision
When asked to envision Nelsonville in five years, Dunfee said he would like to see a full-time code enforcement officer and an update of “the old pool,” as the current city pool is in dire shape.
Sherman said he would like to see “houses that are cleaned up, looking good.” He also would like to see more homeowners in town and a council that works for its citizens, “because through education and communication, we can fix anything.”
Childs said he would like to see the next generation being proud of Nelsonville.
“I’d like for the three girls that I’m trying to raise them to be successful and go out into the world,” Childs said. “I want them to be able to look back and say, ‘I grew up in Nelsonville and let me tell you something about us, it’s a great place to live, it’s warm, it’s hospitable, it’s inviting, it’s clean, it’s safe and there’s things to do there.’”
Nguyen said she would like to see “Nelsonville thriving … a place where people come for vacation, where people come because they want to live here.” She believes the city could improve its “appearance and cleanliness” within the next five years. She added she would like to see more families in the city, too; “This needs to be a place … where people want to bring their children and raise them. It was once and it can be again, and I know this.”
Tickets
Booth, Childs and Dunfee are campaigning together; so are Nguyen, Sherman and Sonick.
Booth said in an interview that he, Childs and Dunfee share a “vision for the city,” which begins with rebuilding its infrastructure. “We don’t agree on everything, but we agree on overall what needs to be done,” he said. “And I think we all kind of compliment each other that way.”
Childs, who joined the council by appointment in 2022, resigned in January and rejoined this past summer, said Booth served as “my mentor in the beginning.”
“I looked at them, and I said, you know, why don’t we combine our resources, and let’s run together as a team,” Childs said. “Because quite frankly, I trust both of them. … When I was on council for about six months, they were, you know, one of just a few folks that were on council that were actually interested in doing something productive.”
Dunfee said in an interview that he finds his morals strongly align with Booth’s and Childs’. “We all have the same sense of right and wrong,” he said.
Sherman told the Independent that running with Nguyen and Sonick was also a way to pool resources among candidates who share a belief in the value of government transparency. “Not everything has to be in executive session,” he said.
Nguyen said it was more feasible to run alongside Sherman and Sonick. Additionally, she said, the three “definitely believe that council needs changed, that we need to get people in there who care about Nelsonville instead of themselves and their friends, which is unfortunately what the current council’s all about.”
Sonick did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.
More information
Running in an uncontested race for three at-large, two-year positions are incumbent Taylor, challengers Jonathan Flowers and Greg Smith — each is guaranteed a seat. Flowers attended the forum Tuesday night as an audience member; so did current council member Gregg Clement.
Early voting began Tuesday, Oct. 11. While it is too late to register to vote in the Nov. 7 general election, unregistered voters may still cast provisional ballots. To find polling locations and more information, visit the Athens County Board of Elections.
