Local Republicans poised to fill city, county positions
By Kevin Risner, krisner@advertiser-tribune.com
The Seneca County Republican Central Committee is set to meet Tuesday evening to fill two party vacancies.
Wilma Klopp announced her resignation as a member of Tiffin City Council. Her retirement was to be effective June 30. Klopp has been an at-large council member who served on council for more than 10 years.
William Crist withdrew as a candidate for county commissioner after winning the Republican primary, citing fundraising difficulties.
The 13 Tiffin members of the committee are to pick a new council member to replace Klopp. The person selected is to serve until Dec. 31, 2009.
The applicants who submitted resumes to the committee by the July 1 deadline for the council position are Charles R. "Buster" Ardner, Debbra Albaugh, Donna Bradley, Adams Engle, Bob Lee and Tyler Shuff.
The full membership of the committee is to choose a candidate to appear on the Nov. 4 ballot for commissioner. The candidate selected is to run for the term beginning Jan. 3, 2009. The seat is currently held by Democrat Ben Nutter, who is running for re-election. Independent Terry Love is also a candidate for the seat.
The applicants who submitted resumes to the committee by the deadline for the commissioner candidate position are Ed Brickner, George Freeman, Jeffrey Kuhn, Hollie Stacy and Kurt Smith.
Committee rules indicate if there are five candidates or fewer for either position, the decision is to be made Tuesday.
If there are more than five candidates, committee bylaws say the field should be narrowed to five and a second meeting held, an
e-mail about the meeting said.
"I know they are talking about maybe they could just do it in one night, but that depends on the committee people," Central Committee Secretary Cora Bour said. "They have to make that decision that night. It would be so much nicer to get it over with. I heard they might try to waive that (bylaw) so they could just get it finished."
The 13 Tiffin members are to meet at 7 p.m. to consider the council vacancy. The full membership of the committee is to meet at about 8 p.m. to consider the commissioner candidate vacancy.
"This is a busy time because of vacations," Bour said. "We'll have to wait and see how many are going to be there. Usually there is a pretty good crowd that come."
