Four seats are up for grabs in this year’s Beavercreek City Council election and 11 candidates are in the race. One winner will be Beavercreek’s new mayor. Do you know who the candidates are?
Who’s Running for Beavercreek City Council in 2007
Four seats are open in this year’s Beavercreek City Council election and eleven candidates are in the race. The field is made up of a diverse group. Each brings different views, backgrounds and experience to their campaigns. For the purpose of this article we’ve grouped them into the following categories based on how they are approaching this election; the incumbents, the young runners, the professionals, the old guard and the citizen candidate.
The Incumbents
David Baker
John Broughton
Phyllis Howard
Three members of City Council are running for re-election, David Baker, John Broughton and Phyliss Howard. Joy Brailey has decided not to run for re-election.
David Baker
David Baker
David Baker has served on council for 4 years. Baker owns a home in Beavercreek. He retired from the City of Beavercreek in 1999 after 30 years of municipal experience. Baker was the first City of Beavercreek Zoning and Planning Administrator, first Public Service Director (now called Public Works Director) and later became Assistant City Manager. Baker has been a resident of Beavercreek for 36 years and married for 45 years to his wife, Pam.
Baker says one of his most satisfying experiences was serving as Project Manager for the Beavercreek Veterans Memorial. He is also proud of his association with the Beavercreek Enrichment Association which helped fund senior center.
Baker says during his time on council they tackled the golf course problem by reorganizing management at a savings of $150,000 a year.
John W. Broughton
John Broughton
Broughton has served on council for 15 months after being appointed to fill the seat vacated by council member Tieber. Broughton owns a home in Beavercreek and has lived in Beavercreek since 1977 with his wife of 40 years. He owned an investment company before retiring. Broughton is a former marine, having served in the 1960’s. Broughton’s public service has taken many forms including his chairing of the post office committee for 5 years.
John Broughton says that he feels the last 12 to 14 months has been some of the most productive time the city has seen in years. He credits the current city council on which he serves with cleaning up Beavercreek government, instituting new rules on ethics and greater accountability when spending taxpayer dollars.
Phyllis A. Howard
Phyllis Howard
Phyllis Howard has served on council for 4 years. She has been a resident of Beavercreek for 13 years. She owns a home in the city with her husband and is a mother of two. Her husband is President and coach of the Beavercreek Celtic’s Soccer Organization.
Howard currently works for Defense Research Associates in Beavercreek. She says that the last four years have allowed her to develop strong associations with State Agencies, County Officials, State and Federal Congressman and Senators, to insure needed funds are provided to the city.
She credits this networking for Beavercreek receiving approximately $750,000 ODOT dollars in the past year. Howard has previously served as Vice Mayor under Brailey and has a reputation for independent thinking.
The Young Runners
Luke McKellar
Zach Upton
Two candidates running are in their twenties. One is younger than the other. One owns a house, the other rents an apartment and their views on at least one issue are just as different as their living arrangements.
Luke McKellar
Luke McKellar
McKellar owns a home in Beavercreek. McKellar’s family moved to Beavercreek in 1987. McKellar graduated from Xenia Christian High School in 1999 as valedictorian with a GPA of 4.0. He was also Cross Country and Track Team Captains at the school as well as President of the National Honor Society.
McKellar graduated from Wright State University in March 2004 with a Bachelors of Science degree in Computer Engineering and is currently pursuing a Masters of Business Administration (MBA). He works for the defense contractor DRS Intelligence & Avionic Solutions.
Projects McKellar has worked on include a project for the F-16 in conjunction with Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, projects for the MH-53 Helicopter with Warner Robins Air Force Base, and currently, a platform-independent tactical radio project for the US Army.
McKellar is also a member of the Board of Directors for the Beavercreek Community Athletic Association, Inc (BCAA), where he has served as Treasurer since October, 2002.
McKellar is the only candidate who has come out and said he doesn’t think Beavercreek needs an income tax. If elected he would join Jarrod Martin, currently on city council, who has expressed somewhat similar opinions regarding a city income tax.
According to the campaign, McKellar’s vision for Beavercreek includes finding alternative solutions to divisive problems facing Beavercreek such as the proposed earnings tax from late last year and safeguarding the personal and property rights of all of Beavercreek’s citizens.
He says, “Beavercreek is a strong, vibrant city that deserves leadership with links to the past and a vision for the future. I am running for city council because we need to create a generation of solutions for our community.”
Zach Upton
Zach Upton
Upton rents an apartment in Beavercreek. He graduated from Beavercreek High School where he was class president. He went to Wright State University and Sinclair and has a degree in Political Science.
Upton works at GE Money where he is a national sales representative. He also currently serves on the Parks and Recreation Cultural Board where he says he is working hard toward getting the parks accredited. Upton is also a member of the Beavercreek Chamber of Commerce.
Upton says he thinks his community involvement over the past few years has really shown his leadership and leadership abilities. He says he’s heard the issues and he knows what people are thinking and thinks he is the right candidate at the right time for the right vote.
Late in the campaign Upton launched a series of phone ads accusing city council of having a reputation for cronyism, mismanagement and back room deals. In the calls, Upton says that he is the candidate to end these problems and “restore a sense of pride and faith in our council.†The campaign strategy is a departure from Upton’s earlier slogan, “You’ll go up with Upton.â€
Upton previously ran for city council in 2005 and lost coming in fifth in a seven person race. In 2005 Upton captured 11.49% of the vote. If the same number of people vote for him again in this year’s eleven person race, he could win. Upton is the only candidate from 2005 who is running again in 2007.
Last year Upton was involved with the Beavercreek Earnings Tax Committee (BETC) which led a failed attempt to place a city income tax on the May 2007 ballot. The BETC was chaired by John Sostrom, husband of Julie Sostrom who chairs the Parks and Recreation Cultural Board on which Upton serves.
Upton has been publicly vague about any support for a city income tax but his close association with the BETC would suggest he favors the idea more than he lets on. It may be something voters take into consideration when casting their vote.
The Professionals
Vicki Giambrone
Eric Marcus
Debborah Wallace
Three candidates are high level professionals. One is VP of Marketing for a major hospital, another is a retired CEO and the third owns her own investment business and has a degree in psychology.
Vicki Giambrone
Vicki Giambrone
Vicki Giambrone owns a home in Beavercreek with her husband Jack and has been a resident for 16 years. They have a daughter and worship at St. Lukes.
Giambrone has served as Vice President of Marketing & Development for Children’s Medical Center for the past 16 years. In her presentation to the Beavercreek Women’s League Election Forum she listed among her skills her 20 years of experience in governance, public administration, strategic planning and community service.
Giambrone has both a Bachelors and Masters degree from University of Dayton and has served as President of the UD Alumni Association.
Giambrone says she is running because she feels Beavercreek is at a significant moment in time and this election is about choosing those candidates with the right mix of skills, abilities and experiences to best position the city for the future. She says in the next 4 years the city council will be making key decisions and setting important policies that will affect the community’s future and long-term viability.
Giambrone says, “If I’m fortunate enough to be chosen to serve, you can be sure I will work hard to bring positive, professional leadership to the position and work hard to build a citizen driven plan that will help secure a strong future for all of us in Beavercreek.”
Eric Marcus
Eric Marcus
Eric Marcus has a home in Beavercreek and has been a resident for 15 years. He is retired, has 4 children, all of whom attended Beavercreek schools and is very active in Beavercreek Rotary. He currently serves as Vice President for that organization.
Marcus is the retired CEO of Western Ohio Pizza, Inc. He proudly describes his 30 years in the “pizza business” and says he can “still make a good pizza”. The company managed roughly 50 Domino’s Pizza stores in western Ohio and had a workforce of over 900 employees during his tenure.
Marcus has a history of making donations to the Democratic party but says he is a “fiscal conservative” and cites his experiences while running a successful business for guiding him to that philosophy.
He says he believes city council’s job is to provide a vision for the city’s future. He says we need to plan what Beavercreek will look like in 5, 10 and 20 years. Marcus says city council’s job is to develop that vision, put the right professionals in place then get out of the way and let them do their job.
Marcus says, “Today Beavercreek is still a growing and vibrant community. We need strong leadership to keep it strong. I will provide that leadership for our city. I will use my proven business skills and ties to the community. I will ensure that we continue to have the right people in the right place, doing the right jobs.”
Debborah Wallace
www.wallacecampaigncommittee.com
Debborah Wallace
Debborah Wallace owns a home in Beavercreek, has been a resident of the city for 7 years and has lived in the area for 25 years. Wallace is the owner of Wallace Brokerage Services located at 838 Distribution Drive Beavercreek.
Wallace is a graduate of Bowling Green State University with a degree in Psychology and Biology from 1974. She also has a teaching certificate. She served in the US Army from 1974 to 1977 and went on to get a master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Dayton in 1979.
Wallace currently serves on the City of Beavercreek Board of Zoning Appeals as Vice Chair. She is also a Beavercreek Chamber member and ambassador, on the board of directors for Action Youth Outreach and is on the board of directors for the Senior Citizens Center.
In the past she has served on the Miami Valley Military Affairs Association, the City of Dayton Civil Services Board and has been the past president of the Belmont Business Association and the American Society for Public Administration.
Wallace says she is running for council because she wants to assist in changes in Beavercreek that reflect the feelings and desires of the citizens. She says the power struggles that have been battled in city council need to stop and the focus needs to reflect a positive approach to problem solving as a group. She says she believes in open government with a strong reliance on the City Manager.
Wallace says as a member of council she would work to direct the City Manager to devise a plan for an “Earnings Tax” that would be tied to a “Reduction” in the property tax, work toward simple low cost road improvements that would help a great number of Beavercreek residents, advocate larger impact fees for developers in Beavercreek to offset the demand on City services and create a partnership with Wright Patt’s recycle program by committing Beavercreek to a citywide recycling program that would earn money and protect the environment.
The Old Guard
Jerry Petrak
Julie Vann
Two candidates running for council are former council members who also served as Mayors. Each had to sit out the last few years because of term limit restrictions. They are running on their prior experience and service on council.
Jerry Petrak
Jerry Petrak
Gerald “Jerry” Petrak owns a home in Beavercreek and has been a resident for 35 years. He and his wife first moved to Beavercreek in 1971 and raised their 3 children here. He says that all three attended Beavercreek schools and received an excellent education.
Petrak attended the University of Dayton and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1964. Following graduation he began working for the University of Dayton Research Institute and later for the Materials Laboratory at Wright Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB). While working at WPAFB he went on to receive his Masters Degree from the University of Dayton in 1971.
During the late 1970s and through the 1980s Petrak served as president of the Beavercreek Jaycees and the North Beavercreek Neighborhood Association and in the 1980s Petrak served on a number of Beavercreek community committees including the Clean Water Task Force, Environmental Advisory Committee and Planning Commission.
In 1992 Petrak ran for city council and was elected Mayor of Beavercreek. He served in that post for 2 years and later served two more terms as Vice Mayor. Petrak remained on council until 2004 when the term-limit rule added to the Beavercreek Charter in 1997 prevented him from running for election again for a period of 4 years.
Petrak credits his efforts for bringing together the city, the township and the schools in the mid 1990’s to engage in joint long range planning that has helped create the Beavercreek we know today.
Professionally Petrak continued his work at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) at WPAFB where he went on to become Deputy Division Chief for the Metals, Ceramics & NDE division.
Petrak says he is running because he feels a need to re-engage on city council following recent developments in our city. He says he will be retiring early next year from WPAFB and he intends to devote his time to Beavercreek to make it an even better place to live.
Julie Vann
Julie Vann
Juliann (Julie) Vann owns a home in Beavercreek and has been a homeowner since 1985. Vann is a mother and has an long list of public service and community involvement including prior service on Beavercreek City Council. In 2001 Vann became a widow when her husband died.
Julie Vann was first elected to Beavercreek City Council in 1996. In 2000 and 2001 she served a term as Mayor. Vann also served on the Beavercreek Planning Commission from 1988 to 1990, and the City’s Ordinance Review Committee, from 1994 to 1995, the Beavercreek Visioning Process Steering Committee, Greene County Workforce Policy Board, Greene County Waste Water Committee and the Miami Valley Regional Planning Transportation Committee. She has also been chair of the Greene County Workforce Investment Youth Council.
Vann earned a bachelor’s degree in Human Ecology in 1975, and a masters degree in Public Administration in 1995. Vann worked as a Community Development Administrator for 12 years in Piqua, Fairborn, Kettering, and Iowa City. In Iowa she evaluated citizen needs in the areas of planning, developing, and implementing programs, evaluating outcomes, and enabling improved government and citizen communication.
In 2001 Julie Vann was inducted into the Greene County Women Hall of Fame for her community service and her work with the Beavercreek City Schools. Most recently Vann was in charge of the 25th Anniversary Beavercreek Street Art Beaver project.
Vann’s campaign has centered around what she calls a “budget crisis”. Vann says we have to have a plan of action for the city revenue budget crisis. According to Vann, repairs for parks are being defered, resident complaints are being put on hold and the city budget is stretched beyond it’s limit.
In a campaign letter Vann listed her top priorities as; dilligent fiscal management with high performance standards, better facilities for community activities, advocating an Earnings Tax or city income tax be placed on the ballot and development of a plan to deal with storm water runoff problems, street maintenance and upgrades now.
The Citizen Candidate
Linda Borgert
Linda Borgert represents the finest example of the citizen candidate. Her views are strong, her passion is pure, but can she compete in such a crowded field with incumbents and former council members? She may face an even bigger uphill battle than McKellar and Upton who started building their support base earlier. The question is whether voters will reject the others and opt for the perspective offered by this self proclaimed average citizen running for office.
Linda Borgert
Linda Borgert
Borgert owns a home in Beavercreek and has been a resident for 14 years. She is married and has 3 children. Borgert has an associates degree in Paralegal Studies from Sinclair Community College and a bachelor’s degree in Management from Wilberforce University. She currently works at the Dayton Law Library and has worked there for 7 years. Borgert also teaches part-time at RETS Tech Center.
Borgert belongs to the Beavercreek Community Theater and was a Girl Scout leader for 6 years.
Borgert calls herself an average working class person and says she’s the daughter of a working class family. She says she is running because she wants to represent the interests of the citizens of Beavercreek. She says that for too long developers and builders have been given free reign by this city council. Borgert feels Beavercreek’s city council needs someone who can make long range decisions using the ciritical thinking skills she offers.
Borgert has made passage of an earnings tax, otherwise known as a city income tax, a large part of her campaign. Borgert says that people who work in Beavercreek but live in other cities aren’t paying their fair share for city services and a city income tax would fix that. She says once an income tax is in place, property taxes could be reduced.
During her presentation to the Beavercreek Women’s League Election Forum she said it would also be nice if Beavercreek had a youth center or recreational center like Kettering.
Most of the information contained in this article was taken from the candidates themselves, either from comments they have made in public, from their websites or from their campaign materials. A few gaps were filled in with our own research when necessary to present a complete picture.
Beavercreek’s voters will have more choices than normal during this election and how they vote will determine the direction the city takes. Will they return the current council members or go for a mix of the young runners, the professionals, the old guard or the citizen candidate? If all the incumbents are returned to office, who will fill the one remaining vacant seat? Will the voters support or reject the candidates who have made passage of an earning’s tax a big part of their campaigns? And the candidate with the most votes will become Beavercreek’s next mayor. Who will that be?
This year’s election will take place on Tuesday, November 6.
