Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

Just think the Bengals are 7 and 2

Gas is approaching $2.00 per gallon

And Fix is running for council.

Manage Residential Growth

Since I moved my family here in 1996 (ONLY MOVED TO THE CITY IN 2002 and lived AT 27 WEST COLUMBUS STREET WHERE HE NOW HAS HIM CAMPAIGN HEADQUATERS) our community has been overrun with residential growth. As a result, our schools are overcrowded, our streets are packed, and our water and sewer services are nearing capacity. You and I pay for all of this.



The solution is to slow the influx of new homes into our community, and to get developers to pay their share.



What I have done:

?¼ Carried the initiative petition that became law to limit residential developments to two homes per acre.
DIDN?’T COME UP WITH THE IDEA RITA RICKETTS DID.

?¼ Spoke in favor of the moratorium that significantly slowed residential development and allowed Mayor Shaver and council to create a growth plan.

JEFF THE LAST TIME I CHECKED GROWTH IS STILL A BIG PROBLEM.

?¼ Spoke against a proposed community authority that would have continued the explosive growth in our community while crippling our school system.

?¼ Strengthened the residential building code. As a member of the Planning & Zoning commission I have worked to strengthen our current code, making our community more attractive and new homes more expensive. This will slow the growth of new homes being built in Pickerington.



What I plan to do:

As a member of City Council I will:

?¼ Work to implement the growth management plan currently being conceived.

HEY DIDN?’T YOU SAY ABOVE THE GROWTH MANAGEMENT PLAN WAS ALREADY DEVELOPED AND YOU ALLOWED IT?

?¼ Work on a ?“Charter Review Commission?” to revise our laws in ways that will allow us to better manage our growth.

MEMBERS OF COUNCIL DO NOT SERVE ON A CHARTER REVEIW COMMISSION. ARE YOU SAYING YOU WILL LOSE THE COUNCIL RACE AND BE APPOINTED TO THE COMMSSION BY MAYOR SHAVER?



My Stance on Impact Fees:

Impact fees are absolutely necessary for our community. For years, previous Pickerington Administrations ?“sold us down the river?” by giving developers anything they would ask for in an effort to annex more and more land into the city. They allowed for high-density subdivisions which brought thousands of new children into our school district. Instead of charging impact fees, council actually gave away tap fees to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars over the past several years. You and I have paid for this as the costs for needed infrastructure improvements and emergency services expansion have escalated.



The time is now to make the developers pay their own way. Impact fees won?’t slow the influx of new families into our community, but they will provide the city with the necessary income to improve our roads, maintain our police force, and keep the cost of community services in check.

HEY JEFF THIS PASSED LAST MONTH. WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?




Paid for by the Committee to Elect Jeff Fix. John Dolske, Treasurer. 11820 Streamside Dr, Pickerington, OH 43147




By Barbara Streisand

neglecting his job

While Jeff Fix is running in Pickerington for a nonpartisan seat on the Pickerington Council and at the same time secretary of the Fairfield County Republican party the partisan candidates in Lancaster are above to lose their majority. While Mr. Fix is running for a nonpartisan seat in Pickerington City Council he is also co-chairmen of the Betty Montgomery campaign for governor. Stop and think about that for a minute: A Roman Catholic running the campaign of a pro-choice candidate for governor.

Remember there is a primary in May and will Jeff Fix have the time or the energy to both run the County party and the Montgomery campaign? He won?’t but his next campaign will take every bit of credit for controlling growth and running the city of Pickerington. This time for Jeff Fix will be for real. His votes will count and his words will be recorded.



Democrats aim for majority
By CARL BURNETT JR.
The Eagle-Gazette Staff
cburnett@nncogannett.com



LANCASTER - If Democrats win five of nine seats on the Lancaster City Council, it will be the first time in nearly three decades the party holds a majority.

Party campaingns are focusing on the three at-large seats and the 1st Ward seat now held by Republican Wayne Roller.

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''I think we are sitting pretty good right now,'' said Dale Graham, chairman of the Fairfield County Democrat Executive Party Committee, following a candidate forum Thursday night. ''We are working very hard, and I think we really have a chance at this year.''
Steve Davis, chairman of the Fairfield County Republican Executive Committee, said he is confident Republicans will remain the majority party on council.

''It is going to a be a race that depends on who can get their voters to the poll Tuesday,'' Davis said. ''Our candidates are going door-to-door and making phone calls everyday. It doesn't feel like the problems the Republicans are facing at the state and national level have come down to the local level. I think this is still a race for voter turnout.''

THE PRESIDENCY

Lancaster's nine City Council seats are voted on every two years. In the council race for the council presidency, the Democrats picked Katye Russell to go up against incumbent Republican Carl Tatman.

Russell's message is council meetings need to be more resident-friendly and city government needs to be more open to new ideas and people.

Tatman, a former ward councilman, has campaigned on his experience and community involvement.

The president only votes in case of a tie so the real power struggle is taking place in the at-large and ward races.

AT-LARGE SEATS

Republicans attribute the unexpected contest for City Council majority to a procedural blunder early in the election process.

The blunder came in February. Republicans were counting on incumbent at-large city councilmen Roger Morgan and Jeff Hoffman to file for candidacy.

Hoffman, however, did not collect enough qualified signatures to run for election. The Fairfield County Board of Elections disqualified him from the ballot.

In all, three Democrats and two Republicans - including incumbent Democrat Dwight ''Dyke'' Andrews - are on the ballot for three at-large seats. So if voters choose to keep the incumbents, Andrews and Morgan, one spot is up for grabs.

Both parties have mounted aggressive campaigns.

The Republicans chose to field candidate Steve Jackson, whose name has appeared on the city ballot more than once before. Jackson has served as a city councilman and municipal court judge.

The Democrats placed Jerry Woodgeard's name on the ballot for an at-large seat. Woodgeard has been on the citywide ballot before, once for council president and once for mayor. He is a former Lancaster school principal.

Democrat Jim Russell also is running for an at-large seat. Russell is well known among Democrats as a party supporter.



By BS

Where will I find the time??

THE WARDS

Residents in the six city wards traditionally have voted either heavily Democratic or Republican.

In the uncontested races, Republicans John Zekas and Thomas Stoughton are expected to be re-elected to the 2nd Ward and 4th Ward, respectively.

Democrat Rudy Touvell is running uncontested in the 5th Ward.

Ann Kitzmiller is the Republican candidate in the heavily Republican 3rd War. She is facing an independent challenge from Michelle Mayes.

The Democrat candidate is incumbent Harry Hiles in the heavily Democratic 5th Ward. He faces independent candidate Tim Welker.

1ST WARD

The 1st Ward candidates initially became rivals when a controversial residential development went before the City Council for approval. Ward residents circulated petitions opposing the project.

Democrat John Smith helped organize the opposition. In the end, it was approved by the council with the support of incumbent Republican Wayne Roller in 2004. Davis, the local Republican Party chairman, said Roller is a good candidate and has been a great representative of the people in the 1st Ward.

''Wayne's been there for the people of the 1st,'' Davis said. ''I feel good about it.''

Roller and Smith campaign signs are visible in every direction in the 1st Ward.

Jack Morgan, 69, is a Republican with a Roller sign in front of his home. Morgan said he'd already heard from both candidates.

''I think Wayne may have hurt himself on the development project that's going in,'' Morgan said. ''But I've known Wayne since he was a kid, and I knew his father. I hope he wins, but I really think he may have hurt himself with that development vote.''

Morgan, the father of Republican City Councilman Roger Morgan, said he hopes the Republicans win and keep the majority on the council.

Morgan's neighbor Homer Phelps, 78, has a Smith sign in front of his property. Phelps said he's been a lifelong Democrat and plans to support the Democrats on election day.

But this election is different from past ones.

''This is the first time I've been contacted about someone running in the ward,'' Phelps said. ''In the last presidential election, I called the party asking for a Kerry sign and never got one.

''This time around they both have called, and Smith came out and put up the sign. I hope the Democrats do take over control of City Council. It's time for a change.''

Originally published November 6, 2005


By BS