Tom Bernabei is about to ride off into the sunset. For the moment.

Editor's note: This column has been corrected to note that Thomas Bernabei has been mayor of Canton for eight years.

Thomas Bernabei has been Canton mayor for eight years, and there is a horde of individuals who want to succeed him.

Do they know what it would take to be a mayor? Or, do they merely think they could just waltz into the office and mayor stuff just gets done?

I first met Bernabei years ago when I was NAACP president, and we had just sued the city because of the lack of minorities and females in the safety forces.

He was representing Canton as prime attorney in Judge Robert Krupansky's federal courtroom as he argued the city’s case. I at first mistook him as a special high paid lawyer from New York or Chicago, as his demeanor seemed to indicate.

He did well with his arguments of a case that was obviously doomed on its merits.

As we negotiated a final settlement (who needs $6 million?) that called for an increase in the amount of minorities and females in the police and fire departments, he impressed both my attorney, Ed Gilbert and me. When I subsequently found out that he was a city attorney, I knew then that his future was whatever he wanted it to be.

Since that time, he has indeed made his mark on the city. Bernabei has held many public positions, both appointed and elected, and he brought all of those experiences, all of that talent that was honed by all of those positions he has held to the eventual position of Canton mayor.

He is a product of Canton’s public school system, graduating from Lehman, attended the University of Akron, then Brown University Law School. He then served four years in the Army as a captain, with his last deployment being in Vietnam.

One of his chief lessons that he learned was a lesson of leadership.

Upon graduation from law school, he came back home and was hired to be an assistant law director for the Massillon Law Department, a job he remembers fondly as a “good job, fun job and one that taught him” more aspects of leadership.

From that job in Massillon, Harry Klide, law director of Canton at the time, hired him as assistant law director on the civil side. Soon after, Klide was elected judge, and Scott Gwin became law director, replacing Klide, and Gwin soon went on to become a court of appeals judge.

When Gwin left, Bernabei was appointed law director by the Stark County Democratic Party, and subsequently, he ran for the position and was elected law director.

After 11 years there, he retired from the law director’s position and became a private citizen.

For a short while.

Being a private citizen was not enough for Bernabei, so he ran for council at large in Canton andwas elected, where he served one term.

After that term ended, he was appointed interim executive director at SARTA, which at thetime, was facing a levy request of the citizens, and had a host of managerial issues that he doveinto.

After his successful tenure there, he was appointed service director for Canton under Mayor BillHealy, then he ran for Stark County commissioner and won. Then, he was elected mayor of Canton and started his administration in January 2016.

Whew!

A true Renaissance Man?

With all those experiences, what primary lesson did he learn as mayor that those vying for the position should know?

He said his successor should “always place the good of the community ahead of their personal gain … create trustful relationships … make promises and keep them, but always in the best interest of people. When you do that, tough decisions become much easier to make."

His biggest challenge as mayor?

“There are different challenges at different times," he began. “Initially, when I came in as mayor, financial issues were the biggest challenge. We had to make those tough decisions, including having to enact layoffs, to bring fiscal stability and responsibility back to the city of Canton."

A second biggest challenge, according to the mayor, and a recent one, has been COVID.

“It was important to us that we maintain our continuity of services," he said. "We did not shut down the government. All departments, such as sanitation, administration, police and fire, and health were still providing services, and I'm proud of the way our city employees responded and helped through the challenge of the pandemic."

A third challenge were the racial protests stemming out of the George Floyd/Black Lives Matters national protests. Out of the process, Canton police adopted better use of force policies and protesters were respectful of the community, without problems seen in other communities.

Approaching challenges include managing the opiate settlement money and PPV money.

I asked the soon to be ex-mayor what his biggest success was.

He responded, “running government in an efficient manner throughout all the departments on a daily basis. It takes a team, from cabinet officers to department heads to employees, and it doesn’t happen withoutall of them. I thank them!”

And what are some of his successes?

“We are proud of Centennial Plaza, the Hilton DoubleTree hotel, Amazon, the continuing development of downtown, HOF/HOFV, programming for the poor and disadvantaged," he said. "Upcoming, a Marriott Hotel at the Renkert Building site, Nationwide development, a fiber backbone network, a medical facility and food store in the Southeast quadrant.”

When he first ran for mayor, he emphasized his focus on leadership. In his major campaign correspondence, he said, “Leadership requires experience, proven job performance, intelligence, common sense, business acumen, work ethic, credibility and honesty."

He has proven that to be true, simply with his outstanding career performances. Will, or can, the next mayor, the one out of the horde who bests everyone else, do the same?

Voters will make that decision.

Now, he looks forward to whatever his next passion will be. “Bebe will tire of seeing me at home after the first day — so there will be something, or lots of things! I will be here in Canton.”

We will wait and see!

Ron Ponder can be emailed at ronponder1@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Tom Bernabei is about to ride off into the sunset. For the moment.