Experience

“ALL POLITICS IS LOCAL”

Portsmouth, Ohio City Council

Elected Councilman in 1973 and re-elected in 1975

The Portsmouth community was fed up and had enough of business as usual on city council. The people elected six new Councilmen, including myself in 1973.

After taking office and within a few months, after an exhaustive search Council hired an outside professional City Manager, not a local crony.

Actions I supported and voted for as a Councilman:

The city purchased police cars for all police officers. The city went from 12 cruisers to 33 police cruisers.  Police cruisers were visible throughout the city, 24/7.  "Halo effect" ensued. Crime went down.

Snow plows were purchased for all city trucks.  Snow removal problem was solved.

We revitalized the city center that spurred local businesses to the city center. Called the "ripple effect", it was like dropping a rock into a pond. Waves “ripple” out to positively impact downtown businesses .

In a tragic event, two young boys were murdered in an abandoned building.  City Council
called an emergency session.  At that meeting I placed into motion legislation that would
immediately board up and secure all abandoned property in Portsmouth.  Furthermore, we passed legislation to  immediately begin the process of razing abandoned property at the owner's expense.  We could not bring those boys lives back, but we did try our best to prevent abandoned property from being used like that again.  The murderer was apprehended and received his due justice. 

I cast a deciding vote, in a 4-2 vote, to establish Shawnee State Community College (subsequently Shawnee State University) in downtown Portsmouth. The other location being considered was 5 miles north in a wooded area.

Shawnee State University is now the centerpiece of downtown Portsmouth. Higher education, arts and sciences, on-going education, and all activities associated with a university became a reality.

Private sector businesses sprung up all around the university. The decision to locate Shawnee State University in downtown Portsmouth demonstrates exactly what one vote can have to positively impact a community.

I never voted for a tax increase.

For my like minded folks, thanks go out to:

C. Scott Johnson -   City Manager

Bob Jones -                Councilman

Richard Eisnaugle - Councilman

Howard Griffin -       Mayor

Portsmouth City School Board

Elected 1995

The Portsmouth community was fed up and had enough of politics as usual.

Hundreds of supporters worked for months to help elect 3 new school board members, myself included. Three new members constituted a majority on a 5 member board. I was elected to serve as Vice-President of the Board.

We immediately began to search for a new Superintendent.

At our first Board meeting in January, 1996, we put up for sale the school property that was being used as a plush facility for school administrators and elite Board members.

Excess space was being leased to non-government entities. We believed that the school system should not be in the real estate business. The cost of maintaining the property was a drain on the money that we thought should have been spent on our kids.

Within months, the building was sold and administrative offices were moved to Portsmouth High School where there was plenty of vacant space.

We eliminated the overhead costs of the building, put administrators inside the high school, and with their presence there, created a "halo effect" in the school halls.

School Board meetings were rotated to all 9 school buildings instead of the elite's plush building that we sold.  School Board furniture was moved from the elite's plush offices downtown to the two high school's libraries. The students enjoyed the big plush former School Board member's chairs to curl up in and read a book. They appreciated the massive oak wood tables that the former Board Members used at board meetings that were now being used for displaying books and other educational material. Finally, a great use for that furniture.

We would have put the following on eBay, but eBay did not exist then.

We sold all unused school property that was being stored in school building basements, which was a fire hazard to the kids. The money went to a special fund to buy books and supplies for the kids. Each teacher was allotted an equal share of the proceeds to purchase things they needed in their classroom.

We had school playgrounds built that previously were only a dream.

We ordered all school buildings to be handicapped accessible.

We created a TV studio at Portsmouth High School for all student's use in the District. 

The people stopped the abuse of former School Board members flying all over the country wasting tens of thousands of dollars of our kids’ money, when they voted the former Board members out of office. "A new broom sweeps clean".

We began replacing principals.

We offered buyouts for employees who were burned out.

We got control of loose cannons in school sports, those who were foul- mouthed "educators".

Two board members stopped a "party den" at the football stadium. After football season there were adults that met at the “den”. It had heat, telephones, video equipment, couches, and refrigerators. Once discovered by two Board members, in a surprise inspection, it was immediately dismantled.  Thanks, Jackie and Rusty.

One teacher was removed immediately by the Superintendent, after female high school students made complaints concerning sexual misconduct by the male teacher. The teacher was ordered out of the building and away from the school environment by the Superintendent on the spot. The dismissal of the teacher was upheld legally. He delivers pizza, last I heard.

Portsmouth East High School in Sciotoville was being ignored by the elites who served on the previous Board of Education.  The previous Board had bought a new state-of-the-art heating system for the plush school administrative building downtown.  But, for decades the residents in Sciotoville, the students and employees at Portsmouth East High School were being subjected to a coal-fired heating system that was spewing coal soot both inside the high school and over Sciotoville, that all had to breathe. Oily film was on everything in the building, and the residents of the community were subjected to the oily film also.
The new School Board aggressively sought money for facility improvements.  Our number one priority was to replace the old coal-fired boiler heating system with a new state-of-the- art gas-fired system.  The Board accomplished the replacement of the heating system.  The air breathed was cleaned both inside Portsmouth East High School and in the community of Sciotoville.

The school system was being targeted for bomb threats, which was frightening for students and employees alike. With a new "caller ID" phone system that the Board authorized and had installed, shortly thereafter, the Superintendent was standing at the secretary’s phone, he overheard an incoming call and it was a bomb threat. The "caller ID" indicated the phone number. The Superintendent notified the police, who, co-incidently, were standing right next to him (they were there to give the students a presentation at the high school). The police used their mobile phones to immediately identify the phone booth the call was coming from. Within 2 minutes, two young men were apprehended at the phone booth by police in a cruiser.  Eventually the perpetrators each served a year in jail. That was the end of the rash of bomb threats. We never had another one.

In 1999, the Board held firm during negotiations with the Teacher's Union for a new contract.

The union wanted a 5% pay increase every year for the next 3 years. And they did not want a Professional Development Program.

The Board wanted to implement a Professional Development Program, and control our budget. A strike was threatened by the teacher’s union. Threats were flying all over the place.

The Board authorized an outside educational firm to bring in replacement teachers in case the union struck. We believed that the function of a public school system is to educate the youth, not to serve the employees. And it was our duty to educate our youth, whether the employees were union or non-union. We held our ground. The negotiations were settled without a strike. The teachers received a 1% pay increase for the upcoming years, which is what we could afford, with out asking the public for any new taxes.

A Professional Development Program was implemented.

I never voted for a tax increase.

For the Portsmouth community, I want to thank these folks that worked

so hard to effect change, when they were called to their “duty.”

Dr. Robert Weinfurtner, PhD, Superintendent

Mrs. Jackie Enz, President of the Portsmouth City School Board

Mr. Frank Brisker, School Board Member

Mr. Robert Stevens, School Board Member

Mr. Larry Oster, School Board Member

Mr. Rusty Miller, School Board Member