ATHENS COUNTY, Ohio — Each of Athens County’s 14 townships are holding elections for township trustees this year. Most races are noncompetitive, but Ames, Carthage, Dover, and Rome townships each have three candidates for two seats.
Township trustees are tasked with providing basic community services to residents, including road and cemetery maintenance.
Candidates in contested elections were invited to participate in an Athens County League of Women Voters town hall earlier this month. Representatives from Ames, Carthage, and Rome townships participated in an event Oct. 8, while a representative from Dover Township participated in an event Oct. 6.
Ames Township
Ames Township has three candidates for two seats, as incumbent Brent Richard Kasler faces newcomers Tim McKinley and Raymond Allen Quinn.
Kasler told the Independent that he’s lived in the township all his life and is a local farmer. He said he’s helped make “a pretty good impact” during his six years as a trustee, specifically mentioning the township’s chip seal program to convert gravel roads to hard surfaces.
“There’s a lot more houses now that can get home on a hard surface versus a dirt road,” Kasler said.
Cemetery maintenance is one of the township’s strengths, Kasler said. The township’s greatest need is “maintaining what we’ve got with the higher cost of material” and labor.
He said he has a good working relationship with the other trustees.
Kasler was the only Ames Township candidate who shared contact information with the Athens County Board of Elections or who participated in the League’s candidate event. The Independent could not identify contact information for McKinley by press time, and Quinn did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.
Carthage Township
Three candidates are also competing for two seats in Carthage Township: incumbent William L. Guess and newcomers Gene Griffis and Justin Williams.
Griffis said at the League of Women Voters candidate event Oct. 8 that he has lived in Carthage Township his whole life and wants to help better the township, including by seeking grant funding. He did not respond to the Independent’s request for comment.
At the candidate event, Williams said he was born and raised in the township.
“I just want to make these roads like they were when I was a kid, where you could ride a bicycle down them and not worry about a pothole wrecking you, or anything like that,” Williams said. He did not respond to the Independent’s request for additional comment.
Guess told the Independent that since he started as township trustee, he has made a difference by enhancing communication between residents and the trustees.
Guess said the biggest challenge facing the township is funding and a need for new equipment. He said he hopes to identify more opportunities for state funding.
Dover Township
Danny Brown, Hubie Cooksey, and incumbent Stuart Neal are competing for two township trustee positions for Dover.
Cooksey attended the League of Women Voters candidate night in Chauncey Oct. 6, where he criticized the township for the state of its roads and for not putting enough of a priority on safety, especially during flooding.
He told the Independent that he wants to install more culverts, improve snow removal in the township, and support clean-up of the township. He said he believes trustees should be more involved in the community.
He said he will bring over a decade of experience of road work to the position.
Neal told the Independent in an emailed statement that he hopes to improve road maintenance, have an efficient work crew, and improve communication with residents if he is reelected. He brings eight years experience as a trustee and he is a retired manager of an automotive plant.
In an emailed statement, Neal said that road improvement was his top priority, along with finding qualified workers with commercial driver’s licenses and retaining part-time cemetery workers.
Neal said his accomplishments as a trustee include applying for and receiving a $125,000 grant for a bridge replacement, receiving $15,000 from American Electric Power to address road damage, and creating an employee handbook for the township.
Brown did not attend the League’s event or respond to the Independent’s emailed request for comment in time for publication.
Rome Township
Rome Township also has three candidates for two seats: incumbent Aaron McVey, former trustee Gary Tino McVey, and write-in candidate Clarence Bowers.
Aaron McVey said at the League event Oct. 8 that he has lived in the township his whole life and served several terms as trustee. Among his accomplishments, he said at the League event, are blacktop patching and helping with a program to establish a local park.
“We want to do more, we want to get more, we want to get people to have pride back in our community,” Aaron McVey said.
Former trustee Gary Tino McVey told the Independent said he hopes to secure more grants and move forward with more public works projects. He said he brings knowledge of equipment and a desire to help out to the role. He said he makes himself available to help run the township.
He also mentioned past work with the park committee, and said he hopes to install more playground equipment.
“I just hope to have people have pride in their community and actually see where their tax dollars are going, road improvements and so on, so forth,” he said.
Bowers did not respond to a request for comment or attend the League’s event.
Uncontested races
Most township elections are uncontested this year.
In Alexander Township, Brian C. Grubbs and Jeremy Hayes are running for the two available positions.
Brian K. Baker and Steven H. Pierson are running for the two seats in Athens Township.
Pierson said in an email that he hopes “to provide accurate and timely responses to constituent’s questions,” and he will bring 32 years of experience as a public servant to the role.
That experience “has given me the opportunity to know the wide range of programs available to residents and property owners and to have built personal relationships with those in positions of public trust and responsibility in those agencies,” Pierson said in an email. “Honesty, integrity, knowledge and years of proven public trust are what residents expect and deserve.”
He hopes to support the township’s fundamental needs, including roads, ditches and signage, and to ensure “that the highest quality fire protection/emergency response departments are equipped and trained,” he said.
In Bern Township, Alan Gilchrist is running for a trustee seat alongside write-in candidate Benjamin D. Kasler.
In Canaan Township, Charles Kincade and Randall George Wolfe are running for the two trustee seats, while Faith T. Gandee is running for an unexpired term as fiscal officer.
James Turner and Kenny Waggoner are running for Lee Township’s two trustee positions.
In Lodi Township, Larry Baringer and Albert Hawk are running for two trustee seats.
Trimble Township will see Tyler Barrett and David Harvey up for election to two trustee seats.
Troy Township, meanwhile, will see Mike Putnam and Brandon Russell on the ballot for the two trustee seats.
In Waterloo Township, Gregg N. Andrews and Cory Russell are running for the two trustee positions.
Lastly, in York Township, Bill Mellinger and Timothy R. Warren are running for two trustee positions.
Let us know what's happening in your neck of the woods!
Get in touch and share a story!
