The Franklin County Board of Elections lists the following candidates for Office for this November's Election:

Mayor
Thomas E Watkins

Council Member
Chad Allen Ratfield


There is only one candidate running for Council and there are two seats up for election. That means the Council will be appointing someone to the seat or if they do not act in 30 days the Mayor can appoint someone.

Mr. Ratfield is the newly appointed, by the Mayor, Council Member whose first meeting that he attended for the Village was the special meeting called by the Mayor to raise the Mayor's salary back up to $12,600.

Would seem that Mr. Ratfield will be continuing on in office since there is only one candidate for two offices. We will see how he represents the residents in the future. So far, I'm not impressed.

Would you run????

Paul would you run for Major?? The village needs you!!!

I Will Not Be Running For Office

I am truly humbled by your question which others have posed to me many times over the past month as I have been out walking around the Village.

The quick answer is, no I cannot run as the deadline for filing as both a ballot candidate and a write-in candidate have both passed.

The long answer is that in the end when I looked at what I needed to do for my family and the committment that I would have to make for the residents that there was not enough hours in the day to be able to devote myself to my family and the Village. One or the other would be short-changed and I personally did not want to do that to my family or to the residents.

The faith and trust that residents put in me while I served on Council made me work that much harder to ensure a future for the Village and do what I could to help the residents. All but the last two months of my term in office it was only my wife and I. I thank the Lord every day for bringing me and my wife together. I do not believe that it was by chance that we met, but fate. She is an amazing woman and supported me while I served on Council. But now, I have a 22 month old son and an 8 week old daughter, not to forget the afore mentioned wife and they need me and I need them.

It pains me to see where the Village has gone during the last two years. I feel as if I have let the residents down. I served on Council not for myself, but for my 96 year old neighbor to make sure they had the police protection they deserved. I served for my neighbors' children so that they would have a safe place to play.

I do not feel that the residents are getting the level of effort that they deserve for the taxes they pay. I am sorry that I do not have the strength to be able to both provide for my family and run for the office of mayor.

Someone in the end would not get the level of effort that I believe it demands. It would not be fair to the residents for me to serve and not be able to put forth the effort I believe needs to be done. My family is my first priority and I cannot expect my wife or children to sacrifice their needs so that I may run.

Thank you for your support and I hope your understanding. The decision not to run for office was not taken lightly. I gave serious consideration to running for office, but in the end, while looking into the eyes of my 8 week old daughter I knew where I needed to be, and that is at home.

My Apologizes To Mr. Radford

I incorrectly listed Mr. Radford as Mr. Ratfield. My apologizes. It is Chad Allen Radford who is running for one of the two council seats.