Go with experience in at-large races for Elyria Council

It's not easy to replace public officials with decades of experience, but that's exactly what Elyria voters must do in the at-large race for City Council this fall. The departures of Council President Vic Stewart and Councilman Tom Callahan, both Democrats who have served on Council for 20 years, open up two of the four at-large seats. Council's two other at-large members, Chad Schneider, 40, and Phil Tollett, 62, are seeking reelection. Seeking to join Council are Democrats Gina Rothgery, 58, and Matthew Van Wormer, 42; independent Clifton Oliver, 45; and Republican Paul Lungo, 59. Of the two incumbents, Schneider is the easier call for us to endorse for a third term. Although he tends to be one of the quieter members of Council, we've found him to be thoughtful and well-versed in city issues. That's especially the case when it comes to economic development, among the most important issues facing the city. Schneider works in real estate and previously served on the city's Planning Commission. He chairs Council's Community Development Committee. The question of whether voters should reelect Tollett is more complex. Despite his deep knowledge of city affairs, especially the city's budget — he chairs the Finance Committee — he is among Council's more pugilistic members. For example, he has clashed with Councilman Andrew Lipian, I-1st Ward, over the years, including over whether Lipian has a conflict of interest because of his day job as Grafton village administrator. (As we noted when we endorsed Lipian for reelection, we don't believe that to be an issue unless Elyria and Grafton are in direct competition.) Moreover, Tollett demonstrated his own blind spot on conflicts when he initially voted in favor of pay raises for the staff of Elyria Municipal Court Clerk Eric Rothgery's office, where Tollett's daughter works. Tollett insisted that because he voted on raises for a group of people he was fine to cast the vote. We argued at the time that even if the vote was legal, it was a bad look. Tollett grudgingly agreed to sit out future votes on raises for Rothgery's staff. He was still salty about our criticism of him during an endorsement interview this month. It's that tendency to dig in his heels that gave us pause about endorsing Tollett, but ultimately we believe Council will need his experience in the coming years as Elyria eyes potential budget issues. Although she's never held elected office, experience also is why we're endorsing Gina Rothgery. Until her retirement earlier this year, Rothgery had spent decades working for the city in a career that began in 1994 when she went to work for the Elyria Police Department as a records clerk and secretary. She went on to hold various roles at the Fire Department, the city's water plant and the Engineering Department. She also was active in the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the union representing most city employees, a role that allowed her to interact with every department in the city. All that experience explained why Rothgery was so informed about issues facing the city. Although she is married to Brian Rothgery, the city's IT director, whose cousin is Eric Rothgery, Gina Rothgery was cognizant of the need to avoid even the appearance of impropriety when it came to potential conflicts of interest. We also are endorsing Van Wormer, who ran against Lipian unsuccessfully two years ago. Van Wormer is a banker who has been involved in the Elyria Community Improvement Corp. and the Elyria Community Partnership's downtown redevelopment efforts. We were tempted to endorse Oliver, a logistics manager who fell short in his bid for an at-large seat two years ago. He's a better candidate this time around, having gathered government experience by serving on the city's Fair Housing Board and on the Mental Health, Addiction and Recovery Services Board of Lorain County. Oliver is close with Lipian, who during a recent deployment with the Ohio Air National Guard asked Oliver to field calls from residents for him. It was an odd decision considering there were 10 other members of Council who could have handled the work, but it did give Oliver some experience responding to residents' concerns. Nevertheless, we believe Van Wormer's experience in economic development would be a better fit on Council. Lungo, like Oliver, struck us as someone who was well-meaning and eager to serve his community. However, we found that Lungo, a retired teamster who has never held elected office and now works part-time as a consultant, was the least knowledgeable of all the candidates about city affairs. He would therefore face the steepest learning curve. Our suggestion to Oliver two years ago about the benefit he would derive from becoming more involved with the city by serving on a board also applies this year to Lungo. Elyria voters would be best served by electing Rothery, Schneider, Tollett and Van Wormer.