TOLEDO, OH (WTOL) - In two weeks voters will head to the polls, and in north Toledo or District 6, they'll be choosing between four candidates for their council person.
The seat was vacated by current Lucas County Treasurer Lindsay Webb in January.
All four candidates agree on two hot topics in the district. They want to keep the jail downtown, and off of the proposed location in the district at Detroit Avenue and Alexis Road.
They also want to keep ownership of the Collins Park Water Treatment plant, but come up with some sort of water agreement with the suburbs.
The man holding the seat now, Chris Delaney, a Democrat, was appointed and sworn in a few months ago as Webb's temporary replacement. He worked as a Toledo Police officer for 30 years, and believes his experience on city council sets him apart.
"I'm really looking forward to Toledo jumping the hurdle economically and attracting more families to live in Toledo and I think we are on the right path to get that done,"said Delaney.
The endorsed Lucas County Republican, Alex Rivera, is a local carpenter. Rivera ran in the last election for District 6, but was defeated in the primary. He said he wants to hold the county accountable, especially when it comes to the building of a new jail.
He also hopes to bring in business to the district.
"I think that we need a strong economy in district 6, I think Alexis Road and Lewis and Laskey are areas that need improvement as far as businesses," said Rivera.
Jim Nowak is a lawyer in Point Place...is running as a republican without the Lucas County Republican Party's endorsement.
Nowak said he's been an advocate for this area for years, helping get a fire station for Point Place. He has run before for state representative, and ran for an at large council seat a few years ago.
He feels strongly about stopping the drug issues plaguing his community.
"In the community work with churches and other civic groups to work on eliminating the opiate addiction. That really causes a lot of the problems that we face," said Nowak.
David Ball is running as the green party candidate. He works right now as a substitute teacher for Toledo Public Schools, as well as coaches basketball and baseball.
He wants emphasis put on our kids after his son's PAL boxing program was cut.
Ball was unavailable for an interview at the time of publication, but his spokesperson commented on his views.
"We're talking about having millions of dollars available for a jail, we can't come up with a few thousand dollars to keep an after school program open. His point is we seem to be investing in kids that are going to fail instead of kids that are going to succeed," said Sean Nestor, who is running Ball's campaign.
The election is May 8th. Neighbors can meet the candidates Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. at the Friendship Park Community Center.
The top 2 vote-getters in this election move on to November, and then finish out Webb's term.
