Joe Drennan
Staff WriterColumbus Township thought it was going to have a simple election with Melvin Mettler running for seat A, and Pat Preiner running for seat B uncontested, then Tom Hefty came along and began a write-in campaign for seat B.
Hefty, who is involved in the real estate lending and appraisal business, said he originally wasnít going to run for the position, but after several people asked him to he decided to run as a write-in candidate for seat B.
ìI see a lot of things happening that are big issues and with all these big issues, there was no one running against seat B,î Hefty said. ìI felt with all these decisions that need to be made we need some new opinions in there so the public can be involved. For that reason and a number of people asking me to, I decided to run.î
Seat B candidate and incumbent Preiner says she has no problem with anybody running for any seat, but she prefers the issues to be debated openly in the public.
ìI donít think thatís fair to the Columbus residents because then they donít know both sides,î Preiner said.
The major issue Hefty points out is the freeway district and the fact that Preiner lives within it. Hefty said that any time there is a vote where there could be a conflict of interest with Preiner, she has to step down from the board, and the people are losing a vote.
Preiner on the other hand feels it is good for the community to have someone from the freeway district on the board to give their opinion, and said that if her living in the freeway district was a conflict of interest, then any issue dealing with residential issues would be a conflict of interest for the other board members.
The almost forgotten candidate in the race is seat A candidate Mettler who is running uncontested. Mettler says he is running for the seat again because he enjoys the job and he knows what he is doing because he has been doing it so long.
ìI truly do feel I give fair representation for everybody in the community,î Mettler said.
The Columbus Township election is Tuesday, March 9, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
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