Wooster chooses: Candidates for mayor, council tackle citizens' questions at forum

WOOSTER − More than 50 prospective voters filled the hall at First Presbyterian Church recently to hear from every city candidate appearing on the May 2 primary ballot during a candidates night event.

Wooster candidates running for mayor and those seeking three City Council spots answered a slew of questions posed by the moderator, Critchfield attorney Peggy Schmitz, and the audience. Questions ranged from their qualifications and priorities if elected to what they see as the major issues facing the city.

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The event was hosted by the Wooster Area Chamber of Commerce and the Wayne Economic Development Council in an effort to get the community more involved in local politics.

Of the races that took center stage, one is contested in the primary election. The Republican mayoral contest is between Mike Buytendyk and Bob Reynolds.

Uncontested primary races include Craig Sanders running for president of Wooster City Council and Chris Malta running for the Ward 3 council seat.

Bill Bonstancic, a Democrat, and Michael Abernathy Jr., a Republican, are each seeking an at-large council seat and will face off in the November general election.

Who are the Wooster mayoral candidates?

Buytendyk is president of Wooster City Council, having held the position for over 13 years. He has been a member of the council for 16 years.

He is a practicing attorney at Buytendyk Law Office where he focuses on taxation, probate law, municipal law, business planning and litigation, he said. He has served as a solicitor for villages across Wayne County and remains the Mount Eaton solicitor.

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Reynolds was elected to an at-large council seat in 2021 and is chair of the Laws and Ordinances Committee.

Also an attorney, Reynolds works at Reynolds Law Office practicing real estate and zoning law. He was also on the Wooster City Schools Board of Education from 2008 to 2015, he said.

"I look forward to bringing a fresh take on issues," Reynolds said.

Both candidates were asked about their ages by the audience.

The 65-year-old Reynolds said he is a little younger than the current mayor who seems to be doing well, so his age should not be a problem.

Buytendyk, 69, said he is nearly a decade younger than the 80-year-old U.S. President Joe Biden.

"I will take him on in pushups anytime," Buytendyk told the crowd.

Housing, workforce and business development priorities

Both candidates' priorities include strengthening city ties with local businesses and expanding the housing market, however the two differ on the housing question.

Reynolds wants the city to focus on the current developments that are underway, including Spring Run and the Melrose Drive neighborhood.

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Once built, he said, the city should reassess its housing needs and go from there without expanding into other school districts.

The zoning code for Traditional Residential Districts should be revised, he said. The RT zone encompasses neighborhoods south of Bowman Street that border downtown and was created to preserve historic homes.

Reynolds said when aging historic homes come down, they are not replaced because of the zoning code, pushing homeowners north, away from downtown.

When asked if he would support city inspections of rental properties, Reynolds said he would not, because it could deter landlords from setting up shop in Wooster.

"I would like to find good landlords," he said. "I don't want to add another layer of government regulation.

To achieve affordable housing, Buytendyk said, he would encourage developers to consider ways to reduce building costs and by revising zoning and building codes.

He would like to see more tax increment financing-funded housing projects like the Spring Run neighborhood along Oak Hill Road.

Taking inspiration from the University Circle area in Cleveland, Buytendyk floated the possibility of implementing a financial program to help new homeowners move into Wooster homes.

As for the Traditional Residential District, Buytendyk would aim to keep the zoning as is.

"The problem is nonresident owners renting out homes and carving them into apartments," he said.

To keep renters safe, he said, he would support city-led rental property inspections but was unsure how such a measure would be implemented.

For both candidates, new housing would help address a major economic development problem facing businesses across the nation: workforce shortages.

The pandemic changed the workforce resulting in many employees working from home. Buytendyk said the city could look at developing work-from-home-friendly neighborhoods.

As for homelessness, both candidates agreed more needs to be done on the issue but did not get into specific suggestions.

Reynolds said he hopes to tackle the "causes" of homelessness instead of the "symptoms," while Buytendyk said a lack of state funding for local programs is partially to blame for the issue.

Community involvement

Buytedyk said the community should have more access to the council. While there is a comment section at the end of every City Council meeting, he would like to see the return of Let's Chat Sessions, which are held outside of council meetings.

These sessions were created at the urging of the Wayne County Racial Justice Coalition before the end-of-meeting commenting was added to council agendas.

Let's Chat Sessions were 15-minute, off-the-record meetings with a council member or two and sometimes another city official such as the law director or finance director, used to candidly discuss citizens' concerns or proposals.

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"I found those very helpful and would like to revive them," Buytendyk said.

While Reynolds appreciated the meetings, he is not a fan of the sessions because it runs the risk of seeing the same people show up every time, thus dominating the meeting format.

The best way to connect with the community, he said, is to be present and active in the community.

Diversity in the workforce

The two differed on the question of diversity in the city's workforce, taking different routes with the topic.

Reynolds said there is a lack of women in leading city roles.

"There are many men who hold power that look like Mr. Buytendyk and me," he said. "We need to change that."

Because women make up roughly half of the population, he said, they should make up roughly half of the leadership.

Buytendyk said the city has made advertising efforts to reach out to nonwhite communities for police, fire and other city positions but very few "want to move to rural Wooster."

"We always want to find the best person for the job, regardless of race," he said.

Getting to know the council candidates

The four City Council candidates, Bostancic and Abernathy for the at-large spot, Sanders for president of council and Malta for Ward 3, answered similar questions from the moderator and audience.

Bostancic, a former city councilman who headed the infrastructure committee and one of the original owners of the Farmer Boy restaurant on Cleveland Road, is running because of his experience as a city planner and time on council.

He lost the election in 2021 and is hoping to return to City Hall.

Abernathy, Bostancic's likely opponent in the November election, is the president of Buckeye State Credit Union, which, he said, is nearing solvency since he took over. He hopes to bring his fiscal experiences to city government.

Among his priorities are openness and transparency, he said.

Sanders is another long-time member of council, joining as an at-large councilman in 2012 before becoming the president pro tempore or vice president of Wooster City Council in recent years.

He is the vice president of design at Freeman Building Systems in Wooster and served on the Mental Health and Recovery Board of Wayne and Holmes counties for many years.

Malta is new to the realm of local politics, having been inspired by his daughter who just reached voting age last year. He said her interest in better understanding politics made him realize how little he knew about local government.

This sent him on the campaign path to be a representative for Wooster's Ward 3.

Important issues for candidates

Like their mayoral counterparts, most candidates cited housing as the biggest challenge facing Wooster.

For Sanders, affordable housing is easy to say but more difficult to accomplish. To increase "workforce housing," as he put it, there might be ways to reduce construction costs to encourage building more affordable homes.

Abernathy said there is no shortage of businesses ready to move into Wooster, but there is a shortage of housing for their employees. He would like to understand how to bring more developments to the city while giving priority to local construction companies.

Housing is always a challenge, said Bostancic, who has advocated for more affordable options in the past.

He noted three options: build more income-based apartments like the ones on Akron Road, use the county landbank to procure land for homes and invest in planned and mixed-use developments that include single and multi-family homes.

For Malta, the biggest challenge is homelessness. He would like to work with the public to find solutions.

Communication and collaboration

Openness and a willingness to work with other governmental bodies like the Wayne County Commissioners and the next Wooster mayor were key audience questions.

All candidates said their job on council would be to represent the people.

While Sanders' new responsibilities is elected council president would mostly involve managing council, he said he is always happy to hear from residents and meet up with citizens.

"I challenge everyone to reach out to council members and myself," he said. "I'm always excited to meet with people and learn from them."

Going forward, he would like to work more with county commissioners to balance the needs of the city and county.

Bonstancic's time on council involved many visits with constituents and talking to concerned citizens either in person or over the phone. Regardless of political affiliation, he said he would listen, try to understand and help people the best he could.

As for relationships inside Wooster City Hall, he said collaboration between Democrats and Republicans is commonplace.

Bonstancic said the mayor and administration would often hold private meetings with individual members of City Council to coordinate on legislation and discuss other matters, which he said was very helpful.

"I'm also very open to having regular meetings with the county," he said. Either formal meetings or discussions over coffee work for him.

For Abernathy and Malta, it would come down to getting to know city and county leaders and elected officials and then balancing the needs of their constituents with the concerns of local leaders.

Communication is key for the candidates, who said teamwork and transparency is the best way to find solutions to the problems facing the city.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Wooster vote: Mayoral, council candidates answer questions at forum