By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
The retired football coach beat out the environmental attorney, political finance director, Realtor/chef, and scientist Monday evening to score the open seat on Bowling Green City Council.
Scott Seeliger won unanimous approval Monday evening from council to fill the Fourth Ward seat vacated when Theresa Gavarone was named a state representative. He was sworn in after the vote, and took his seat with council for the remainder of the meeting.
Five people presented themselves to council as candidates for the empty spot – Seeliger, Will Airhart, Jeff Dennis, Eric Eberly and William Herald. A sixth candidate, Jeremy Adams, withdrew his name prior to the meeting.
Seeliger described how he came to Bowling Green in 1979 with his wife, Karen, and two daughters. He came for his dream job working with the BGSU football team, and never left. He later served as director of corporate development at BGSU, then as athletic director and football coach with Bowling Green City Schools.
“This town, this city is everything I could possibly hope for my wife and I to grow and raise a family,” he said.
Now retired, Seeliger said he would like to give back to the community.
“Now I have time and I have a passion. I want to serve this community,” he said.
His strength, he said, rests in working with other people. “I know the value of teamwork.”
In serving the Fourth Ward, Seeliger said the most important goal is to preserve property values, strong schools, and city services. “The quality of life is the most important thing.”
In serving the entire city, Seeliger noted the importance of working on the East Wooster corridor. He referred to it as the city’s “front porch,” with the need to make a good first impression.
Before voting, city council discussed the difficulty making a decision, since so many good candidates applied.
Airhart, an environmental attorney with Marathon, previously lived in Nashville and Houston, and moved to Bowling Green with his wife and three young children in 2015. He represents the young professionals that city leaders talk about attracting to the community, he said.
His goals included moving ahead on the green space area and city building – both of which have not made much progress.
Dennis, a Bowling Green native, said he has lived in all four wards in the city. He is currently working as deputy finance director of the Strickland for Senate campaign. Dennis said he excels at “one-on-one conversations with folks.”
One of his goals is to find low cost solutions to East Side problems in the city.
Eberly, who works as a Realtor and a chef at Nazareth Hall, said his skills include empathy for others. “I believe in promoting an open and tolerant community,” he said. “I feel as if I can provide a voice for the Fourth Ward.”
He would focus on working together with BGSU, local businesses, and landlords, moving ahead on the city’s land use plan, and helping to create a walkable, bikeable community. “My dedication to the city is unwavering.”
Herald, a data scientist and analytics manager, previously served two terms on city council. Since then, he has continued to attend council meetings, and other community meetings for the past 10 years. “You know what you’re getting – a passionate, proactive partner,” he told council members.
He has gone door-to-door to encourage frequent communication with ward residents, and would continue doing so. “Having experience is indispensible,” he said.
Herald, a Republican, suggested that city council buck the trend of voting in a partisan manner on the empty council seat.
“Residents would be heartened to see that national polarization hadn’t made it to the local level,” Herald urged.
“Mr. Herald’s qualifications really overwhelm everyone else’s,” said council member Bob McOmber. Not only has he shown an unwavering commitment to attending council and other city meetings, but his qualifications are greater than all the other candidates’ combined, McOmber said.
Normally city council functions as a non-partisan body, except when it comes to naming new council members or electing council officers, he said.
“We try to be non-partisan,” said McOmber, now the sole Republican on council. But “this has typically been a partisan decision.”
“No Democrat has ever voted for a Republican,” during the six council replacements in the last 11 years, he said. “I do find that somewhat objectionable.”
“If there were five Republicans, we might do exactly the same thing,” McOmber said.
But the reality of Monday’s decision was that the deck was stacked for one of Democrats – Seeliger, Airhart or Dennis – to win.
“I don’t want to pretend that everyone gets an equal opportunity,” McOmber said, since Herald is a Republican and Eberly is a Libertarian.
Council member Bruce Jeffers pointed out that the winner of the seat will serve out the remainder of the term, “then in a year and a half, voters will have to make their decision.”
After council made its decision Monday evening, Mayor Dick Edwards said he was quite pleased with the quality of the candidates and their unanimous “commitment to, and interest in the future land use plan.”
Edwards encouraged those not winning the council seat to get involved in some of the city government’s 24 committees, which are “always looking for good people.”
“Politics be damned, as far as I’m concerned,” the mayor said.
