Charlie Adkins and Jon Rose are on the ballot for Athens County Commissioner for the November 2024 election.
Adkins, a lifelong Athens County resident, has been commissioner for 12 years and is running for reelection as the Democratic candidate. Rose has lived in Athens for 20 years and is running as the Independent candidate.
Adkins worked as a volunteer fireman, assistant fire chief and for the union at OU bargaining for wages and benefits for 30 years before running for commissioner.
“This gives me the opportunity to help people and to do things when I get that call,” Adkins said.
While Adkins has been in office, the state received money from the American Rescue Plan, or ARP. Athens County received $12 million from the ARP, which Adkins shared with other villages and townships.
For example, Adkins put $1 million into an industrial park in Albany to extend the sewer out to the park or build new buildings.
“It’s right at the end of the OU airport,” Adkins said. “Hopefully, that will help businesses coming in.”
Adkins is also working with an individual with property on Route 50 East to put in a sewer plant.
“I’ve been working closely with that individual to make that happen,” Adkins said. “It’s great for him, and it’s great for the county because it’s going to bring jobs.”
Aquaria Albano, a freshman studying business entrepreneurship from Albany, said she looks for a commissioner she can trust.
“I feel like (I look for) one that is just for the people,” Albano said. “Someone that the people can trust, that will make a difference.”
Rose has been a paramedic since 2015 and decided to run for commissioner after experiencing the working conditions at Athens County EMS.
Rose said the county was so understaffed that there was a rotating list of people who would be required to work an additional two hours the next day. Rose also felt he was underpaid, making $15.50 an hour as a full-time paramedic with extra credentials. Athens County EMS tried to form a union, but it was very difficult.
“What brought me running for commissioner is my experience with Athens County EMS,” Rose said. “The people who work there, they’re all great, but their hands were tied because of the commissioners.”
Throughout the past 12 years as commissioner, Adkins has worked on several big projects for Athens. Most recently, Adkins worked on getting the bridge over the Hocking River from the bike path to Chauncey built, so people on bikes do not have to go down the state highway.
“Commissioners got a number of things that they do that were required under law,” Adkins said. “Then you’ve got things you can do as commissioner that’s your passion, that’s something that you want to do.”
Adkins is also working on a new 911 center, a $12 million project, and sewer projects in New Marshfield and the Guysville and Stewart area.
If reelected as commissioner in November, Adkins plans to work on a new communication system for the fire departments.
“I think one of my most important jobs is the safety of the county residents,” Adkins said.
Rose is focusing on supporting the EMS system, growing small businesses in Athens, getting better-paying jobs with in-house training in Athens and expanding transportation services.
“If the EMS system collapses, then the whole county is going to suffer,” Rose said. “We also need to get higher paying jobs, support local entrepreneurs and get them hooked up with the buildings that the land bank owns, the infrastructure that we already have in place.”
On his website, Jon Rose for Change, Rose provides in-depth messages about his priorities. Rose said he will work to find the root causes of why the cost of living in Athens is so high and wants to make Athens a center for innovation and growth.
“We’re struggling, and we need some help,” Rose said. “We need some fresh ideas.”
Election Day is Nov. 5, and early voting begins Oct. 8.
