At its Monday, Nov. 20, regular meeting, Eaton City Council honored outgoing Mayor Joe Renner for his nearly two decades of service to the city.
EATON – At its Monday, Nov. 20, regular meeting, Eaton City Council honored outgoing Mayor Joe Renner for his nearly two decades of service to the city.
For his part, Renner used the gavel for what he said was the first time, to close his last meeting as councilman.
During the meeting, Vice Mayor Dave Kirsch presented Renner with a proclamation recognizing Renner’s service. Kirsch read the proclamation into the record:
“Whereas Councilman Joseph Renner has served the City of Eaton with distinguished and outstanding service for a total of 18 years; and whereas his first decade of service to the city began on Dec. 1, 1997, and ran through Dec. 31, 2007, when he resigned to continue his public service as a member of the Eaton City Schools Board of Education; and whereas he successfully campaigned for and was elected to council in November 2015 for a term which began Dec. 7, 2015, a seat he has continued to serve in at the will of the city’s constituents since his re-election in 2019; and whereas he served as mayor of the City of Eaton in 2021, 2022 and 2023 and served as the council representative for the Eaton Planning and Zoning Board in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020; and whereas Joseph Renner did not seek re-election to an additional term and his current term as city councilman and mayor will officially end on Dec. 4, 2023; now, therefore, on behalf of Eaton City Council, Joseph Renner is hereby honored for his outstanding and dedicated service to the citizens of the City of Eaton, Ohio.”
“I didn’t always agree with everybody in the room here, you know, but I feel proud of my association with the city,” Renner said. “I’m proud of the staff that we have here. I show up once a month, basically, you know, so it’s all of you that do the hard work. And we have provided the services that we provide to the city residents here without raising taxes since ‘97. I’ve said that repeatedly, but I’m very proud of that. We haven’t raised taxes. I think we provide a high level of service. I think we have good parklands. I think we have pretty good streets,” he added.
His fellow councilmen and others attending the meeting also spoke, in what almost turned into a comedic “roast” of Joe Renner.
“We’ve served together somewhere between 15 years, and we started out a little rocky over the years, and he’s the bigger man in this story — but we’ve come a long way, both Joe and I, and I’ve learned a lot,” Kirsch said. “One of the things that I’ve learned is that there’s four of us up here that would be thinking what planet you’re coming from with your decision making, but you know what, it made me start thinking outside the norm. And I owe that to Joe and appreciate our friendship.”
“I for one would not be on city council if weren’t for Joe Renner,” Councilman Brad Moore said. “As most of you know I worked with him for 17 years at the sheriff’s office. And in 2013 he called me into his office. He was a major at the time, I believe, and encouraged me to get involved with local politics. Started making the push for city council.”
Moore continued, “I can’t say enough good things about Joe. He was a mentor of mine at the sheriff’s office. I definitely wouldn’t be personally and professionally where I’m at today if it wasn’t for Joe Renner. Something that always rings true, what he used to always say to me and it’s still true — everybody loves honesty but they hate the truth. That’s something that’s always stuck with me that he’s always said and in a world where everybody wants to be PC and not make anybody mad, if you ask him a question he’s gonna give you the answer whether you want to hear it or not, and that makes everybody better for that and I just appreciate it.”
“I’ve served on council for six years with Joe and I’ve learned a great deal from you,” Councilman Matt Venable said. “Like someone else said, we may not see eye-to-eye on some issues, but it’s always been respectful.”
“When I started serving on council a lot of people said ‘how are you going to get along with Joe Renner?” Venable joked.
“I’ve been on council for two years so I don’t have nearly as many funny stories,” Councilman Chris Carr added. “I’ve heard a lot of people talk about disagreements with Joe. And I just want to say, while he may disagree on some things, he is not a disagreeable person and where we come on opposite ends of some conversations, the discussions are just really good. And you can always find middle ground and move forward and that’s great.”
“I just want to say I served with Joe, and like David, we didn’t have a real good start. But over the years, we became pretty good together I think, as members of council, serving as mayor myself. So I’d like to thank Joe for all his public service not only to city council, but this whole county. I know I’ve been in your seat. I know how it’s gonna feel when you leave. Sometimes you wonder why. But anyway, thank you very much. We appreciate it. Joe has been a good colleague, a good friend and not a bad poker player,” retired mayor Gary Wagner said.
“Councilman Venable hit the nail on the head. How do you get along with Joe Renner?” Renner’s wife, Elaine joined in. “It’s tough. But I will say in all this time, listening to him come home from meetings, he’s always got everybody in mind. Everybody. He doesn’t have a personal agenda. And he will listen. He usually thinks he’s right. Most times, I hate to say he is right. But if he’s wrong, he listens. He takes in advice from others. And he makes the decision for not just individuals, or what he thinks. He wants the greater good for all.
“And he is hard to get along with,” she laughed.
A special open house was held prior to the meeting to allow Renner’s friends and colleagues to stop in and wish him well.
In other business, council:
•Heard from Public Maintenance Supervisor Daniel Gray, who presented a report on various projects and activities the public maintenance staff have been involved in.
•Approved a resolution authorizing the city manager to enter into an annexation agreement with Washington Township for the annexation of a property located at 1265 E. Main Street into the city.
•Approved a resolution authorizing the city manager to execute the purchase of a Life Pack for the Fire/EMS Division to replace an aging Life Pack from Stryker Medical of Chicago, Illinois, in the amount of $32,482.69.
Council’s next meeting, its annual reorganization meeting, will be held on Monday, Dec. 4, at 6 p.m. at the Eaton City Building, 328 N. Maple St. Councilman Dave Kirsch and newly-elected Jim Ball will be sworn in, and council will select the next mayor and vice-mayor.
