Springfield mayor
Term: Four years
Annual Salary: $14,300
Warren Copeland
Age: 72
Address: 1613 Wittenberg Blvd. W
Education: MacMurray College (1965), Christian Theological Seminary (1968), University of Chicago (Masters, 1973, Phd., 1976).
Employment: Professor of religion, director of Urban Studies, faculty director of the Hagen Center.
Previous political experience: City commissioner since 1998, served three terms as directly-elected mayor.
Website: Facebook.com, Re-Elect Mayor Warren Copeland.
Endorsements: Ohio Democratic Party, Clark County Democratic Party, SEIU District 1199, UFCW, UAW CAP Council.
Fred Stegner
Age: 66
Address: 1912 N. Limestone St.
Education: Kings College (1971), Naval Aviation Officer Candidate School (1971), Pepperdine University (Masters, 1977)
Employment: Retired as IBM engineer manager, Springfield Soup Kitchen president
Previous political experience: None.
Website: Facebook.com, Fred Stegner politician.
Endorsements: None
Committed to coverage
The Springfield New-Sun provides comprehensive and balanced election coverage, providing you everything you need to know to cast your ballot on Nov. 3.
If you had one question for the mayor candidates, what would it be? The Springfield News-Sun asked Springfield residents what they would ask the candidates. Here are thee answers to their questions:
What will you do to bring more business to downtown Springfield, particularly retail and restaurants? – Vicky Stephens, Springfield
Copeland: "Retail is tough, especially retail of size. Department stores aren't going in any downtowns. I kind of have a rule that if it can't work in Columbus, it won't work anywhere else in the state. The downtown mall in Columbus closed. Retail is tough, except for specialty retail, which we have some of on Fountain Avenue … Restaurants I think will have more success when we have more people downtown. Getting people in offices downtown is probably the key to the success of restaurants."
Stegner: "I'm glad to see Bada-Bing came in and the Turner Foundation helped them. We need to bring business downtown so the restaurants have customers. That's the first thing. We need to bring businesses downtown. The best idea I've heard yet is we need a downtown parking garage, somewhere customers can park and walk and go to their businesses. That's step one. We need incentives. We need to handhold some of these businesses, giving them waivers or start-up help. We need to coordinate more with the chamber."
What will you do to end the violence and reduce crime rates in Springfield? – Brian Steele, Springfield
Copeland: "A piece of that is law enforcement and the police department is working very hard on that all the time. It's been very difficult because they can't get people to testify. In most of these cases, they have a pretty good idea who did it, but them thinking they know who did it won't stand up in court. We need citizens to stand up and testify. Beyond that, I'm working with community groups who are trying to figure out how to get to the young men who are involved. Most recently, that involved a meeting with the NAACP. There was a strategy developed there of trying to get to these guys and make clear to them that at the rate they're going, their own lives are what's mostly at risk."
Stegner: "I brought up the other night at the debate about having a war room. We need to really concentrate efforts on the shootings, on the heroin, the drug addicts. It was made known to me after my statements that we do have a war room. Where's the transparency, how come no one else knows about this? People come to me and give me addresses and names of pushers and dealers and I can provide hot spot cards. I never hear what happens with that, if there was any follow-up … I'll get with (Police Chief) Stephen Moody and I'll sit with him behind closed doors and see how we can do things better. We need to collaborate. We need to work together with the departments."
Repairing the city’s aging streets, jobs, red light cameras and the heroin epidemic are among the big issues in the Springfield mayor’s race, the first competition for the seat in eight years.
Two candidates — incumbent Warren Copeland and challenger Fred Stegner — are on the Nov. 3 ballot. The winner will lead a city of about 60,000 residents with about a $38 million annual budget and about 570 employees.
Copeland, 72, a religion professor at Wittenberg University, was first elected to city commission in 1988 and has served as the directly elected mayor since 2003. He’s run unopposed in each of the last two elections.
Stegner, 68, is a political newcomer who operates the Springfield Soup Kitchen. He’s a Vietnam veteran and retired as a consultant for IBM.
Copeland and Stegner will participate in a Council of Neighborhood Associations debate at 7 p.m. Oct. 20 at the City Hall Forum.
Springfield City Commissioner Kevin O’Neill is also running unopposed for his current seat. Early voting for the election began last week.
The mayor’s job is going to get more difficult over the next four years due to the city’s budget issues, Copeland said.
“I can make the tough decisions that need to be made to deal with that in a way that’s good for the city,” Copeland said.
With his business skills and life experience, Stegner believes he can make a difference at City Hall.
“I’ve seen things and issues that haven’t been addressed that need to be addressed,” Stegner said. “The Lord has said, ‘Don’t bury your talents.’ That’s probably the main reason.”
Jobs
Springfield faces many issues, Copeland said, but at the base of the city’s economic issues is jobs. The community has two industrial parks ready for tenants, he said, both of which are located near state highways, including Interstate 70.
“Whoever is mayor needs to work to fill those up with good jobs,” he said.
The city’s economic development department will work with the Community Improvement Corp. to talk with prospects about bringing businesses to Springfield. They’ll also work to provide local and state incentives as part of the process, Copeland said.
The city has done reasonably well with recent announcements from Navistar and Dole, Copeland said.
“Other employers have also been hiring a little bit, too,” Copeland said. “We’ve got to keep that going.”
The Chamber of Greater Springfield deserves a lot of the credit for recent job announcements, Stegner said, such as expansions at Speedway. The city needs to work closer with the chamber to bring more jobs to Springfield.
More tax incentives, as well as a downtown parking garage, can also attract businesses, Stegner said.
“One of my key values is unification of Springfield, including agencies and key departments, working together with the chamber to come up with new ideas and bring businesses to Springfield,” he said.
Budget concerns
Springfield is expected to collect about $38.3 million in general fund revenue this year, but spend about $39.6 million. It’s projected to dip into its reserves to cover that $1.3 million deficit, according to its 2015 budget plan. The city also projects shortfalls in 2016 and 2017.
The city’s budget is the most important issue facing Springfield today, Stegner said. With his experience at IBM, Stegner believes he can bring new ideas to the city commission.
“I have no burdens such as friendships or past favors that obligate me or deter me from making rational decisions,” Stegner said.
By analyzing work flows, the city can make processes more efficient and fix its budget problems, he said.
The processes of every department should be evaluated, Stegner said, and that could result in changes to inflow/outflow, information, paperwork or people. He also wants to examine how other cities have come out of similar situations, including Hamilton.
“It’s not going to be overnight,” Stegner said. “It’s something that isn’t being done and something I have experience with that has saved money over time.”
As a retiree, Stegner said he would pour his time into being mayor.
“I will be a working mayor,” Stegner said.
In upcoming budget discussions, the city will “squeeze everywhere we can squeeze,” Copeland said, some of which will be painful. Many of those decisions will be made in upcoming budget meetings with recommendations from staff, but nothing is really off the table, he said. City commissioners and staff will look at all areas, Copeland said.
“That’s why I think whoever is mayor the next four years needs to be somebody who knows the community well, has good relationships with various groups and can help explain what the choices are and why they had to be made,” Copeland said.
Last year the city placed an income tax increase on the ballot to pay for road repairs and voters rejected it. Earlier this year, commissioners examined pursuing another tax increase. The city won’t have an answer until after the upcoming budget discussions next month, Copeland said.
“This fall, budget sessions will be tough,” he said. “They’ll help answer that question.”
Stegner’s unsure if the city should go on the ballot next year and said he wants to research the budget before making any decision.
“I have to evaluate the current environment when I get in there,” Stegner said. “I’m not going to go in and make decisions and throw the baby out with the bath water.”
Road repairs
In 2008, the city eliminated its neighborhood streets program due to budget restrictions.
In recent years about $3 million in annual cuts from the state have reduced the city’s general fund. City crews have repaired roads using federal and state money, but those dollars can’t be used on neighborhood streets.
Copeland said he wants to fix neighborhood streets in Springfield, but it will be difficult to do it all quickly. More money will be available after the city pays off debt at the end of next year, he said.
“We’ll still have local money available, but it’s going to take years to get around to everybody’s streets,” Copeland said.
In order to fix the streets in Springfield, Stegner said the city must first fix its budget deficit. By improving processes within the government, enough money can be saved to fix neighborhood streets.
“I’ve already been successful in starting the Springfield Soup Kitchen from nothing and obtaining multiple grants to move forward,” he said. “We need to find every corner and crevice and financially stabilize ourselves, then we’ll have money to pay for the roads.”
Red light cameras
Springfield turned its 17 red light cameras off this spring following a new state law that required an officer to be present to issue a ticket. The city has sued, challenging that law.
Springfield has collected about $3.4 million in fines from red light cameras since they were installed in 2006.Springfield has issued about 77,000 citations since the program started.
In 2007, 90 crashes occurred at the intersections with red light cameras. In 2014, that number fell to 44 crashes, a 51 percent reduction.
The red light cameras should be taken down in Springfield, Stegner said. The cameras target the vehicle owner and not the driver, he said.
“We should get the Sawzall out and cut them down,” he said.
Copeland understands some residents aren’t happy about red light cameras, but he said fewer crashes have occurred at those intersections.
If the Ohio Supreme Court overturns the new law and allows cities to use the cameras, he believes Springfield should continue to use them with the best practices it currently has in place, including an officer reviewing each violation.
“When you’re a candidate, you don’t have to deal with this issue the way you do when you’re actually voting,” Copeland said. “If we aren’t stopping those accidents and somebody dies at one of those corners, I would feel that’s on my head.”
Heroin
Local leaders have called the heroin problem in Springfield a public health crisis.
This year, at least 44 people have died of drug overdoses in Clark County. The coroner’s office is also awaiting toxicology reports to confirm other suspected overdose deaths.
Last month, more than 30 people were treated for overdoses at the Springfield Regional Medical Center, many of which involved heroin or fentanyl.
In order to combat the heroin problem, Stegner said the city must first tackle the poverty issue. Heroin is so easy to obtain and spans all classes of society, he said.
Volunteers at the soup kitchen are trained to handle Narcan in case of an emergency, he said. He’s also supports starting a drug court.
“We need progress, growth, prosperity, jobs,” Stegner said.
Copeland believes grant money could pay for a possible drug court to battle the heroin epidemic in Springfield. The city should also be supportive of drug treatment programs, he said.
“In the long run, that’s the only way we cut back on this and that’s to help people get off the habit,” Copeland said.
Downtown development
Downtown has seen a spate of demolitions recently, including at the Robertson and the Crowell-Collier buildings. Local preservationists have discussed adding more structures to the local historic register in order to protect them, including several government buildings, like the Clark County Courthouse and the Warder Public Library.
City staff members are identifying which older buildings deserve to be saved, Copeland said.
“We need to identify which are the most important ones and which are ones we can find a use for,” he said.
The city needs to create a strategic plan for downtown, Stegner said. He would bring in an architect to help design a future for the downtown.
“It takes a little creativity, ingenuity and a plan,” he said.
Experience
Copeland hopes voters have seen him in action and know he can do the job.
“An election is always about the future, not the past,” he said. “I’m not asking anybody to vote for me just because I’ve been there, but because they feel while I’ve been there, I’ve built relationships and made decisions in a way that will be important for the community for the next four years.”
Stegner is running as an unaffiliated candidate and said he doesn’t have a huge political machine behind him. He believes he can work with commissioners from both parties to get things accomplished, as well as many local organizations and churches.
“When decisions are made, I can make common sense with one party or the other,” Stegner said. “It’s my independence, my beliefs and my diversity of experience.”
About the Author
