Editor’s note: These stories represent the final entries in a weeklong series of Journal-Tribune stories that highlighted contested elections and issues in Union County.
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Three candidates are vying for one seat on the three-member Jerome Township Board of Trustees.
Joe Craft, Aaron Grabovich and Bill Neumeyer will compete for the seat being vacated by Megan Sloat, who chose not to seek reelection after one, four-year term.
Joe Craft
Age: 51
Position sought: Jerome Township Trustee
Current Occupation: Pharmacist, Business Owner
It has been an honor to serve the residents of Jerome Township for eight years during my time as a trustee from 2013-2021.
I grew up in rural Champaign County, Ohio. My dad worked for the railroad and my mom was a stay at home mom. I worked for Walmart as a stockman throughout high school and college and commuted all five years of my college career. I was able to pay for my college education with earnings from my job and graduated debt free.
I graduated from The Ohio State University’s College of Pharmacy in 1995. My wife, Robin, who is also a pharmacist, and I are the owners of four pharmacies within central Ohio, including Plain City Druggist in Plain City, which we opened in 1999.
Robin and I have lived in Jerome Township since 1999 when we purchased our first home. Robin and I met in high school and have been married 28 years. We love living in this community.
I decided to run for trustee in 2013, because I felt my background as a business owner would be an asset to the township. I wanted to help other local businesses thrive in the township and provide residents, my friends, neighbors, and family, with the services our growing community needed.
Plain City and Jerome Township have changed immensely and I want to continue to guide the township forward to a vibrant future. I feel that my experience and relationships with our partners in the county and surrounding cities makes me the right leader for this moment.
I have never made any decision for the township without guidance from a multitude of advisors on the zoning board, from our legal counsel, other government entities, and, of course, in collaboration with the other two trustees. I have always tried to do my very best for the township even when others might not have understood my choices.
I feel the biggest issue Jerome Township is facing is infrastructure improvements, including long overdue improvements at Industrial Parkway/42 and Mitchell-Dewitt/Industrial. I’ve met with the Union County Engineer and these improvements are coming soon.
It is also essential to extend Houchard Road to Warner. Paying for the extension, as well as future infrastructure, and other “shovel ready” commercial sites in the township, needs to be worked out with the county.
My vision for the township is twofold. I want to enhance the quality of life, health and safety of our community through transparency, accountability and collaboration with residents, businesses, and other governmental agencies. I also want to provide reliable, cost-effective services, and responsible development while protecting nature and our rural character.
I’m proud of my record of accomplishment, and, with your support, I commit to:
– Preserve the character of our community
– Increase the level and quality of services in the township
– Promote a healthy economy – without raising taxes
I’m asking for your vote on or before November 7.
Aaron Grabovich
Age: 39
Position You Are Seeking: Jerome Township Trustee
Current Occupation: Certified Anesthesiologist Assistant, Program Director of Ohio Dominican University’s Anesthesiologist Assistant Program
I am a husband, father of four, coach, neighbor, friend and healthcare provider.
I am running for trustee to be the eyes and ears of Jerome Township residents and help support our communities desire for our township. The safety and security of our residents and township are first and foremost! We must have balanced development and growth, while supporting our much needed infrastructure opportunities and paving the way for improved residential services and public safety. Balanced development planning will occur with the innovation district and attracting desirable commercial development to generate commercial tax revenue to offset the rising property taxes being paid by all of our residents. In the commercial development planning, we must have build-ready parcels in the innovation district ready for business. These businesses will generate jobs in our community and opportunities to work with our schools for workforce development.
The residents are the lifeblood of our community, so I would like to encourage all residents to get involved in the community and provide constructive and thoughtful input on the past, present and future vision of Jerome Township.
My personal vision, is one that would attract every aspect of life to our beautiful and desirable community (not all encompassing): trade students/workers, college students, young professionals, new families and grandparents. Jerome Township is a beautiful and desirable community to live, work and play. We will continue to see many choose Jerome Township for these very reasons.
Residential development has to be balanced and cannot continue to overcrowd our already overcrowded schools and overcrowd our already overcrowded roadways. Serving as trustee, I look forward to continuing to help develop policies for the safety and security of Jerome Township above outside influences. It is imperative that an agreement is made where Jerome Township and Union County offer one another mutual respect and statutory independence, respectively.
I believe the candidate for trustee must have proven leadership, while bringing forth new ideas and innovation, not more of the same from many years past. A proven leader has to be a good listener first and foremost. Once the leader has listened, they must problem solve, negotiate and devise a plan. It is my belief that a good leader will hold true to their positions, no matter the circumstances, not just to appease an audience or to get votes.
I feel strongly that my professional career has helped foster the leadership skills to be a leader in Jerome Township. I am a certified anesthesiologist assistant, while also developing and serving as program director of an anesthesiologist assistant student teaching program. Being a patient advocate and providing anesthesia requires all of the aforementioned skillsets and many more, to provide ethical, safe, quality and effective patient care and anesthesia.
Again I want to state, at such a crucial time, Jerome Township’s next trustee must be a strong leader that brings new ideas, perspective and innovation. Our township cannot endure more of the same from many years past.
I hope to earn your vote and look forward to working with you and for you.
Bill Neumeyer
Age: 53
Position sought: Jerome Township trustee
Current occupation: Business to Business Electronic Communication Engineer
In seeking the position of Jerome Township Trustee, I spent a lot of time considering if my skills, views, and positions on subjects important to the township would be a benefit to the residents and businesses of Jerome Township.
I work in an industry where there are interactions between many complex systems and where a complete understanding of the relationship between all those systems is required to be successful. It requires each person involved to listen to and understand each system’s specific needs and cooperate to make sure that each system gets what it needs to function. This requires significant interpersonal skills and the ability to absorb large amounts of details. It also requires an understanding of the delineation of responsibility of each person and system. I feel that this skill can be brought to the table for the residents and the township to make sure that the complex interactions between the various entities involved in our area are accounted for and help the township prosper.
Right now, our township faces some significant changes and challenges that are not completely unique to us but are very personal to us. There is a lot of fear and confusion about what these changes mean to our future, and there is some excitement about the possibility those changes could mean.
I see three main issues for the township, the rapid growth of population and businesses and how to guide and control it, the issue of what our township will look like in the future and what we want it to look like, and the relationships with the county, cities around us, and our school districts.
It is my intention to move as rapidly as possible to get our current traffic and road issues sorted out, using any tool available to us, including working with the various county departments and boards. I plan to show all entities in our area that Jerome Township can be a strong partner to enhance the economic prosperity for all and that we are no longer interested in just passively waiting to see what happens to us and our township.
I also wish to work with the other trustees and the township staff to make the residents fully aware of what is being planned, how those plans are going to affect them, and under what rules those plans are being made, so that residents are not surprised by what they see happening.
I also hope to encourage all residents to make their needs and thoughts known so that they can guide the plans of the township and businesses.
These two goals should work together to make sure our township does not fracture into separate camps of optimists and pessimists and disrupt the work that needs to be done. We need to work as a township to define ourselves and our land for the future.