Amherst News-Times, 1997-01-08

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Amherst News-Time
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Wednesday, January 8, 1997
Amherst, Ohio
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City auditor says he won't finish final season
by BILL ROSS
News-Times reporter
Citing his increased business
as a manufacturer's representative, city auditor Jim Gammons
has announced plans to step
down from his elected position
before his current term expires
in the fall.
"In order to stay competitive,
it's necessary to branch out, and
I now have business in Kentucky, Toledo and Detroit — but
not enough time to handle it all,"
Gammons said.
Gammons was elected to the
position four years ago and says
he has enjoyed working for the
people of Amherst Before becoming auditor, he sat on city
council for 10 years.
As a manufacturer's representative, Gammons sells commodities like natural gas, aluminum
and electricity to companies and
municipalities throughout the
area, and he also works directly
with Roth in New London, a
large-machine fabricator.
Gammons and his wife Susan
arc now planning to find a condominium near or on the lake in
Huron County. This will allow
him to be closer to his Toledo
and Detroit connections, as well
as giving him the opportunity to
devote more time to his favorite
recreational activity — fishing.
Both the auditor's and the
treasurer's position for the city
of Amherst are elected part-time
positions and what seems a little
unusual, according to Gammons,
is that both he and treasurer
Kathleen Litkovitz oversee several full-time employees.
"1 think that partisan politics
should stay out of the auditor's
and the treasurer's office completely,'' Gammons said, adding
that he believes the best approach would be for the city to
hin; a full-time finance director
to handle these positions, along
with three full-time employees
working.
CONTINUED on page 2
Commissioner settles back
to 'normal' civilian routine
Amherst resident makes travel plans first
by GLEN MILLER
News-Times reporter
Herb Jacoby has no regrets about
becoming a politician 12 years ago.
Despite the campaigning, headaches, feuds and disappointments,
he'd do it again if he were younger.
Little did he or his wife, Mary,
realize he'd have to work as hard as
he did when he became a Lorain
County commissioner in 1984.
But no more. At 68, Jacoby retired Dec. 31 after serving three
four-year terms as a commissioner.
For the next few months, the Amherst resident plans to relax and enjoy life, providing his wife doesn't
find odd jobs for him to do around
the house.
It's not that he's neglected keeping things up around their North-
wood Hollow Court home, he just
hasn't had much time in the last 12
years.
"He's never been lazy. Never.
He's too busy," Mary said. "Now he
can slow down — a little."
When he wasn't busy with government, he taught real estate appraisal classes at night at Lorain
County Community College. It was
his part-ume job for 19 years. He
was good al it. After all, he had
worked in the county auditor's office real estate division for nearly 10
years before being persuaded to step
into the political arena.
After consulting with a trusted
advisor — his wife, he started campaigning. The first time was the
toughest. He had to introduce himself and his political philosophy —
Democrat, of course — to people.
Annexations were among the
hardest. Townships fight from being
engulfed by growing municipalities.
Conversely, ci?v officials accused
him and his fellow commissioners
of deterring development
He didn't have much time to get
his feet wet before diving into
murky political waters. Five months
after being sworn in, he approved
the county's one-half percent sales
tax.
"We needed more revenue be
cause property tax just wasn't making it for us (the county). We were
dangerously close to default — $18
million in debt," he said.
Opponents warned him and former commissioner George Koury a
"yes" vote would make them one-
term commissioners. To him, the
welfare of county government overrode his job.
"You have to make decisions as a
commissioner that offend large
groups of people," he said. "There
were some tough decisions to make.
They weren't snap decisions. I had
to do my homework."
Three years later, voters decided
he had made the right decision. He
won more votes than he did in 1984.
But understanding sales tax was a
small portion of the homework he
did during his 12 years in office. He
brought a lot of work home with
him at night, reading he didn't have
time to thHduring office hoars because of an endless number of appointments and meetings.
CONTINUED on page 2
Retired county commissioner and Amherst resident
Hebert Jacoby exchanges greetings with well wisho, s
at a retirement party held on his behalf in the county
administration building.
Here's a look back at the top headlines of '96
January
SERVICE WITH A SMILE: At
a ceremony held at city hall, John
Higgins was sworn in as mayor,
Alan Anderson as law director,
Wayne Whyte as council president
and other new council members and
city officials were also sworn in to
office by Oberlin Municipal Court
Judge Martin Heberiing.
ON THE LIST: City law director Alan Anderson appointed Steve
List to be his assistant law director.
List, an Amherst resident, was chosen because of his familiarity of the
city and because of his law
background.
S'NO PLACE TO HIDE: A severe blizzard dumped heavy snow in
a 24-hour period, causing a level
three emergency in the county. Residents were warned to stay off
treacherous roads or face a ticket or
possible arrest
NOT SUCH A GAS: One of two
new E-Check emission testing centers opened in Amherst Commerce
Park. The new three-part tests were
designed to detect cars with heavy
emissions and to require owners lo
fix defective exhaust systems.
PROFICIENCY HIGH,
SPENDING LOW: A report by the
Education Management Information
System showed that although the
median income for a local family in
Amherst is higher than the state average, the amount of tax valuation
per pupil is lower than the state average. But in spite of the lower
spending, Amherst students continued to rank high academically.
RUNAWAY TRAINS: Two
trains derailed by Crosse Road after
a piece of pipe came off one of the
cars, landed on a track, causing one
train to run over it Fortunately no
injuries resulted, although there was
One of the top stories of 1996 was construction, and opening, of
the new police station and jail facility, a project that was years in the
making.
appreciable financial damage and
extensive clean-up of the area was
needed.
STATE OF THE CITY: New
mayor John Higgins outlined some
of his ideas for the coming year.
Some of the issues addressed were
controlling the flooding problems,
the creation of citizens' committees,
the police and jail facility, sealing
streets, utilization of the old post office building and analyzing the
city's equipment needs.
NO ELATION IN ELYRIA:
Superintendent Howard Dulmage
was unable to provide much encouragement for the parents of Elyria
West High School students, who
were hoping to send their kids to
Steele High in the fall. Dulmage reported that Steele was already short
of space foi its own students, which
was disappointing news because the
Elyria school was scheduled for closure in June.
THE  BUCKS  STOP  HERE:
Mayor Higgins reported that the city
would be restructuring the way money is collected from the various departments. Now fees from all of the
departments would be collected by
the treasurer's office, instead of by
•the individual departments, which
would hopefully mean a more efficient accounting system for the city.
COMET POWER: The Steele
High basketball team edged closer
to the number one spot, as they
bested the North Olmsted Eagles at
a Southwestern Conference game.
The win put them within a half-
game of SWC leader, Olmsted Falls.
February
STALLED AGAIN: A complaint filed by Lake Shore Railway
Association, a preservation group,
stopped plans to demolish an old
railway bridge that would make way
for a turnpike interchange on Rt 58.
The Turnpike Commission argued
that it would be too expensive lo redesign the plans in order to save the
bridge, but the demolition was put
on hold until a ruling could be
Nashville-based hardware and farm
supply store, announced plans to
lease 25,000 square feet of space in
the building that housed the former
K-Mart store.
SPORTING A NEW LOOK:
Marion L. Steele band director
Randy Border announced that the
marching band would finally be getting new uniforms, after the same
ones had been used for more than 26
years. The money for the new uniforms was raised over a two-year
period from an aggressive fundraising effort by the boosters.
BURSTING AT THE SEAMS:
A survey of area developers done by
Amherst school officials revealed
that up to 1,000 new homes were
projected to be built in Amherst,
Amherst Township and the Lorain
area of the Amherst school district
over the next three years, thus contributing to future overcrowding
problems.
CARRYING THE TORCH:
Amherst residents Jerry Buchs and
Mary Ling vere selected to carry
the Olympic torch through a portion
of Northeastern Ohio in June, as it
was relayed to the 1996 summer
games. Buchs, 29, who has cerebral
palsy and is legally blind; and Ling,
62, who has trouble with lengthy
walks, promised not to let any phys-
made. ical limitations from their complet-
A SALTY EXISTENCE: The ing   the   once-in-a-lifetime
excessive winter snow created a opportunity. 	
heavy demand for salt, while also A VICTORY FOR SPITZER:
taking its toll on plow drivers and Spitzer management announced the
equipment. At one point, there was purchase of Victory Chevy Olds on
a two-week wait for salt orders^pd Leavitt Road. Chief executive of-
plow drivers were working 18 to*20 freer Alan Spitzer said his company
hours straight had big plans for its latest acquisi-
FACELIFT FOR CITY tion, including handling increased
HALL?: Mayor Higgins outlined business and the possible expansion
plans to make a thorough study of of the lot
renovations necessary to restore city BRINGING DOWN THE
hall to its former beauty. Higgins HOUSE(S): City council was asked
said estimates done 12 years ago to by mayor Higgins to authorize the
renovate the roof and second floor condemnation of three deteriorating
ran about $700,000, but that new es- buildings in Amherst According to
annates would now be needed before Higgins, the buildings, all owned by
the project could be considered Milad Abraham, were slated for
further. condemnation in August of 1993,
TRACTOR   STORE   PULLS but extensions lad been given to die
IN:  Tractor Supply Company, a CONTINUED on page S
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