'I want to make it a better place': Mark Makeever wants to be mayor of Bucyrus

Mark Makeever admits he doesn't know everything.

"I'll never say I do, because there's a lot to learn," the Bucyrus mayoral candidate said. But at the same time, "there's a lot of people that have a lot of information and I'm willing to listen. ... I'm always willing for any input that can help the city, on whatever issue."

Makeever, who has served as an at-large member of Bucyrus City Council since 2016, is one of three candidates seeking the Republican nomination in the May 2 primary. His opponents in the race will be Bruce Truka, who served as the First Ward council representative for many years; and Jenny Vermillion, the current council president and former county commissioner. The city's current mayor, Jeff Reser, is not seeking reelection.

Makeever, 62, 833 S. Poplar St., said he always verifies the information people give him before making a decision, but he's learned the value of listening to what people have to say, because "something always comes up, something new and something you never heard of."

Makeever is longtime Timken employee

Aside from 1983 to 1991, Makeever has lived in Crawford County his entire life. The Wynford High School graduate moved to Kettering in 1983 to attend the Ohio Institute of Photography, where he earned associate degrees in portraiture and commercial photography and a lab technician degree.

"But I didn't pursue that because ... two kids and the third one on the way is kind of like, OK, I've got to make money now," he said. He spent some time working in retail, which gave him valuable experience in dealing with the public.

"I went on and obtained my bachelor's degree in business through Mount Vernon Nazarene University and I pursued and got my master's in business," Makeever said. He was worked for the Timken Company in Bucyrus for more than 25 years.

Makeever and his wife, Traci, have been married 37 years. They have four children — two sons and two daughters — and six grandchildren.

"Three of them, they all live within 15 minutes of here," he said of his children. "One lives right next door and two live within 15 minutes, and the other one lives in Columbus."

Makeever said he decided to run for mayor because he saw "the way things were going," and he knew Reser was looking for someone else to run.

"I wanted to run for mayor due to my years I've been on council," Makeever said. "I've learned a lot by being on there and I felt it was time for me to run as mayor."

City needs to maintain funding to operate

Makeever said he sees many issues facing the city, but the primary challenge is maintaining funding for the city to operate.

The loss of some major employers, including GE Lighting and Bucyrus Precision Tech, has meant less revenue flowing into city coffers, he explained. At the same time, the median age of city residents is over 50, "which is not good for us."

"The only way we can draw more people here is we have to get business here, as in more types of employment, as in hopefully more manufacturing or other types of business," Makeever said. A large distribution center might be a good option — not everybody wants to work in a factory.

"They don't mind working in other places, like a distribution center," he said. "We do have a lot of skilled workers around here, but we need to get better-paying jobs to entice people to work here and that's our biggest thing."

The city also needs to expand its housing options, particularly for people in the lower and middle income brackets, Makeever said. It needs apartments and starter homes for new families, so they can get established and feel comfortable in the city.

"As their career develops and their income grows, they can move on to a bigger home for their family and still have good housing here for those who are starting out or moving here," he said. "We're limited on that. We don't have much housing, and we need that."

Bucyrus needs to attract and keep younger families, offering them a future where they can raise their families in a smaller city, he said, "And make a good living in a nice area without having all the headaches of like Columbus or, you know, the bigger cities.

"It's not the hustle-bustle of the large metropolitan area on commuting. It'd be easier," he said. "It's a 10, 15-minute drive to work instead of an hour drive or better to find a job that pays good wages. That's the biggest thing right there. Got to get industry and other types of businesses here to provide employment, to provide income, to broaden our tax base, to be able to sustain our city employees, as in the police and the fire and all the other departments as in the water, the wastewater, street department, et cetera. So that we can maintain our city services."

Makeever said his goal is always to make the city better and to improve the living conditions here.

"I care about this city, care about its future," he said. "The job that I'm seeking is to try to better the city by getting business to improve our financial base so that we don't have to try to tax our senior citizens who are on a fixed income and be able to maintain the service that they've become accustomed to and they and we need. I care about the city. I want to make it a better place. I will have an open door policy."

ggoble@gannett.com

419-559-7263

This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: Mayoral candidate Mark Makeever says he wants to make Bucyrus better