Editor’s Note: The 3rd Ward race presents an interesting dilemma for our editorial board. One candidate, R.J. Sumney, serves as our paper’s business manager. The other candidate, Michele Papai, is the mother of Will Drabold, one of our City Staff reporters. Because of those clear conflicts, we’ve chosen not to issue an endorsement in this race; however, we did meet with both candidates and below are excerpts from those meetings.
The 3rd Ward should be of strong interest to students because it stretches from Townsend Place to Mound Street, encompassing the bars and off-campus housing in between. Both candidates stressed building a bridge between students and residents. Michele Papai pointed out that both students and residents need to pay attention to what is going on in their neighborhoods and understand differences. She emphasizes the importance of knowing your neighbors and being civil toward one another. In a ward that has a large mix of both residents and students, each group must be able to communicate with its neighbors to resolve obstacles. Sumney recognizes that students and residents have a lot more in common than what initially comes to mind. At the end of the day, both want the same thing from the city: running water, working electricity and garbage disposals — basically a healthy quality of life. Sumney also proposed putting students on city committees and encouraging them to become more involved. If the city wants to hold students accountable for their actions, then it has to involve them in city decisions too.
Both candidates addressed economic plans. Papai points out that there needs to be an actual business plan to enable better collaboration between the city and existing businesses. She also stresses the importance of using local resources and encourages sustainability. Sumney says Athens City Council needs to be better at giving businesses guidance and must better coordinate with them. He says the city cannot depend solely on grants to fund its economy and businesses. He also says the city needs to retain entrepreneurs and make connections with university specialists.
Papai works well at a grassroots level. She co-founded Athens Near Northside Neighborhood Association, which works to better neighborhood communication. She is also a part of the Clean Litter Everywhere in Athens Now committee which strives to make Athens a clean college town.
Sumney would like to see City Council partner with other college towns and lobby in Columbus for more budget assistance because a town with a public university requires a larger budget. He points out that Athens is not the same as other small towns in Ohio and that the “one size doesn’t fit all” model of budget cuts shouldn’t apply to towns such as Athens.
Overall, both are viable candidates to represent a ward that has strong student representation.
