The following candidates are running in the upcoming Nov. 2 general election for Mayor of West Alexandria (one opening), with the term ending Dec. 21, 2023.

Jeff Hickey

My name is Jeff Hickey and I am running for the office of Mayor of West Alexandria. I am a lifelong resident of our community. My wife JoEllen and I raised our four children in this community and are proud to call West Alexandria home.

I was elected as a council member with my term commencing in 2018. In 2020, while serving as President of Council, I was asked to fulfill the seat of mayor for the two years remaining of my council term. So, this November, the remaining two years of the mayor’s term was put on the ballot as a special election.

The residents of West Alexandria elected six very capable and caring individuals to be your representees on council. Working with them the last four years, I feel we are making real progress for West Alexandria. We have listened to the concerns of our residents and I assure you we are working diligently to make things better for all residents.

We have completed the largest capital project in the history of our village with the completion of a new sewer plant. This project was completed under budget, but slightly over the timeline due to the very wet spring of this year.

This facility will serve the needs of our residents for many years to come and will now allow for future developments. With the costs of this project some hard decisions were made by council to raise the sewer rates for all residents. We understand this has been an additional burden for everyone, but this decision had to be made for the betterment of all.

We hired a new Village Administrator who is working every day to make our village a better place to call home. Some improvements have been small, as the minor repairs we have made to the town hall. But even small improvements will continue to show benefits. Along with the work on the town hall, we contracted with a company to complete much needed repairs to our water tower. The project to improve the Third Street drainage issues, which have been an issue for years, will be completed this year. This will include all new curbs, sidewalks and resurfacing of the street.

Also, council and our Village Administrator worked diligently to acquire a grant from the State of Ohio. Once these funds are received, we will be making an improvement to the down town area.

These are just a few examples of the projects that council worked on and approved to make needed improvements for the village.

We continue to have the finest police, fire and EMS Departments in our area. We need to thank these individuals for their service at every opportunity. Currently our fire and EMS departments are funded through levies that have been approved by this community. This afforded our EMS department the ability to move forward with the purchase of a new squad unit. Monies raised through these levies can only be used for specific purchases which made it possible to make this purchase. Our village and Twin and Lanier Townships know that when they are in need, our Emergency Services will be there.

This November, the residents of West Alexandria will have the opportunity to support our police department. A four-mill operating levy has been placed on the ballot and I encourage everyone to vote yes and show your support for our men and women who protect our Village. Like the levies for the fire and EMS departments, funds raised from this levy can only be used for the police department.

I will close by saying that social media is a great source for information, but sometimes not totally accurate information. I would encourage all citizens to attend our council meetings. Meetings are held the third Monday of each month at the EMS building at 7 p.m. We open the meetings by inviting anyone from our community to talk about concerns you may have with our Village. We do listen and will take action when we are able to do so.

If anyone has questions or concerns, please let me know. I can be reached at 937-479-5215.

I hope I can count on your vote and would ask that you talk to your neighbors and get out the vote.

Editor’s Note: The following candidates did not respond to our request for candidate profiles: Ray Waldeck.