Jim Forthofer signs off after second career as Vermilion mayor

VERMILION — In the last few days as mayor, Jim Forthofer packed up his office in City Hall between settling last-minute paperwork and making his goodbyes. "It's amazing how many signatures people want when the clock is ticking," he said. "I had three tubs of wall photos, proclamations and things I want to save. It's difficult. I'll miss the people more than anything." Forthofer, a two-term mayor, is leaving office "as Baby New Year comes in" today to make way for incoming Mayor Russell Owens. Forthofer, a retired publishing executive, was first elected to the office 2017 and decided not to run for a third time and retire from the position he calls, emphatically, the "best job anyone could ever have." That's not to say the past eight years were always easy. Forthofer oversaw big changes to the city while in office, some physical — like the major overhaul of the city's most prominent face, Main Street Beach — and it didn't always come with praise. It was, in a way, the beach project that led him to City Hall. Forthofer, an Avon native who moved to vermilion 20 years ago because he "met a girl" — now his wife, Sue — was involved with Main Street long before becoming the mayor. He worked for years with the city's boards and commissions, including historical review and the museum acquisition committee to raise funds through the Parks and Recreation Department to purchase the 1909 Wakefield Mansion that sat on the ridge to the west of Main Street Beach. The mansion, once home to the Inland Seas Maritime Museum, sat shuttered and decaying since the museum moved to Toledo in 2010. He eventually ran for City Council, winning the Ward 3 seat, and served for one term before then-mayor Eileen Bulan encouraged him to run for her seat. "Sue said, 'Oh my God, you'll be gone all the time. Do it. I will help you get elected.' And that's what happened," Forthofer said. As mayor, he inherited the beach project he'd volunteered with for so long. Money was raised to buy the mansion property and keep it from private developers, then eventually two adjacent properties to expand the lakefront park and build a permanent comfort station. The properties were demolished, starting with the mansion in 2021, drawing much community ire. At the time, Forthofer said he was fortunate that his mayor's job was his "encore career." "I'm lucky to be retired. Like when people were complaining about taking down the museum, which was the right thing to do, I could think: What are you going to do, fire me? Go ahead, I'll go home and sit by the pool and smoke a cigar," he said. "You have to make decisions that are right for the people. Where politicians get in trouble is when they become career politicians. Do what's right and people will see it, and they'll get behind you. Make decisions like you don't care if you're elected again or not." The final cost for the park was about $4 million — for which the city paid only about $500,000 for the comfort station. But it has become the crown jewel of the city's waterfront, drawing steady visitors year-round. During his tenure, the city also is adding a new police station, which is in the final stages of completion, on Douglas Street, next to Fire Station 1, which was completed in 2020. The $4 million fire station came in on budget, and the police station, for which Council budgeted $4.6 million, is on track as well, he said. The city also added a permanent, full-time fire chief. Firefighters are paid for training and fire calls but Forthofer spearheaded funding a full-time chief to lead the department, hiring Bill Brown in June 2022. Brown's arrival sparked some in-house dissent, when five firefighters resigned from the department. "Again, that speaks of Jim's leadership. I'll say this, as a first-time chief, many times I'd be sitting in his office, ready to hand in my (resignation) letter and he'd be like 'It's OK. It's no big deal.' He talked me off the ledge many times," Brown said. "He's cool, calm and collected. He's taught me a lot about being a chief and being in charge of a department like this." "His dedication to everything that went on in the city can't be questioned. I know he has his detractors over nonsensical political things but he's done a great job and he's been a lot of fun to work with," said Police Chief Chris Hartung. Amy Hendricks served as finance director under Forthofer, and, like him, her tenure with the city ends today. His cooperative style of leadership has raised the city's profile, she believes. Forthofer built strong relationships with city employees and elevated the city with both Erie and Lorain counties, which it straddles, "to give us opportunities both politically and economically," she said. Forthofer's legacy will include record amounts of reinvestment in the city's infrastructure and parks, including paving roads, water lines, sewer projects and updating the city's fleet of maintenance vehicles, she said. The city is attracting huge new residential developments, which Hendricks thinks could be the end result of Forthofer's work. "I certainly think the image that Jim has portrayed, the obvious improvements and enhancements around the community, have definitely helped," she said. "When you're in public finance, it's very important you have the trust and respect in people you're working for and with. With him, I've never had a problem with that," she said. "We've always had a way of setting our egos aside and looking at what needed to be done next and who can do it. We both had the focus of doing what's best for the city, first, so it makes it easier to make keep moving forward when things happen so you don't take it personally. You keep moving forward when you're working for a community as a whole." But progress hasn't always met with approval: one major business development, a rumored Amazon distribution center, was set to begin building in 2022 on Baumhart Road, near the old Ford plant until a small group of residents petitioned Council for a referendum on the development. The prospective occupant lost interest. "He did not have to take this job. He really has a commitment," said Beth Eberhard, a longtime Vermilion resident and member of Main Street Vermilion, who worked with Forthofer nearly two decades ago on the committee to save the beach property from going to developers. Eberhard and Jim Chapple, executive director of Harbourtown Fine Arts Center, helped organize a semi-secret farewell party for Forthofer. "His wife was a fourth-grade teacher and he's been dragged along to school events, he loves the little kids. He's always willing to take time to speak to people. I not only admire him but I respect him immensely and that is not easy to do in politics. "He's really encouraged new business, he's tried to be very transparent in his workings with the city and he's created a lot of partnership with Erie County and Lorain County trustees and state leaders. He's been a strong advocate for building relationships," Chapple said. In one of his final actions in office, Forthofer oversaw the city's filing in Erie County Common Pleas Court for an injunction against a charter amendment voters approved in November, requiring any tax increment financing process (TIF) to go before voters. The move, spearheaded by a group known as Concerned Vermilion Citizens, is to give voters a say in future TIF-eligible districts, in which a developer, municipality and school district agree to allow property owners within a TIF district to make payments in lieu of property taxes that fund public infrastructure. The city argues it is illegal, because it could potentially put approval of a TIF passed by the city into the hands of electors outside of Vermilion, as the city encompasses two school districts. The rest of that story will unfold on Owens' watch. As for Forthofer, he said he probably will be asleep as the clock strikes midnight, ringing in 2026 and the end of his "bonus" public service career. Sleeping in may be a novelty for Forthofer, who clocked in by 6:30 a.m. and often stayed through committee or board meetings at 8 p.m., not to mention attending every city and civic function going and writing a biweekly column about the job for the Vermilion Photojournal. He hesitates to label anything his "legacy," but turns the attention outward, giving credit to the people of Vermilion. "I've been in business 35 years and it's unusual you have so many high quality professional people," he said, giving credit to his department heads. "I find myself being more of a traffic cop for people with good ideas. It's a doer town and I love it. Vermilion is very personal. It's small, and it drops off into soybean fields real quick outside of town. The 401-c3 groups in town, like the Chamber (of Commerce) and Main Street, they have to track their volunteer hours and we have hours twice that than towns four times our size. It's best when government gets out of the way and lets people be the people." It's the people, he said, that kept him coming to the office, attending the festivals, and even, once, just before Labor Day, shoveling up a dead squirrel in Vermilion-on-the-Lake after the streets department was closed. "A little old lady called and said she'd been feeding the squirrel all summer and 'the speeders got him. He's one of God's creatures and we can't just leave him there,'" Forthofer said. "So there I was, with a flat shovel and a big white bucket in my sport coat. That Monday, a tray of cookies came to the office. That's the kind of people that make it worth it." Contact Rini Jeffers at rinijeffers@gmail.com.