BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — Mike Aspacher has never lived anywhere except Bowling Green. Now, he's leading the city he calls home as its next mayor.
Aspacher has three main focuses for his first year in office: supporting first responders, increasing economic development in the city and tackling the issues surrounding Bowling Green City Schools.
When of Aspacher's first goals is to provide more resources for first responders across the board. The Bowling Green Police Department made the move to upgrade downtown security cameras after a large fight broke out last fall. Aspacher believes financially supporting these types of improvements keeps the city safe.
"I will always look to the police chief for recommendations of what we need to do, because it's a priority. We don't want that sort of thing happening in our community," Aspacher said.
Aspacher is the first Democrat to hold this seat in quite some time. But during his time on city council, he said partisanship was not an issue.
"I've never been a partisan guy, put the party affiliations aside, we sit at that table behind me and we make decisions based off what will best serve our residents," he said.
Aspacher also wants to look at how the city can expand its economic development in new areas. A big focus includes making East Wooster St. an attractive entrance to the city.
"I'm hoping that we'll perhaps take a look at a more diversified approach and work toward getting some more diverse options to our community in terms of retail and recreation," Aspacher said.
Residents believe local businesses and convenience are a strong suit for the city, but many still feel there's room for improvement
"We need more businesses that can appeal to the people here. But, we really do need some good clothing shops. When we lost Elder Beerman we lost a lot," Bowling Green resident Sharon Daniels said.
"We had problems with the construction for so long and I think that really hurt a lot," another resident said.
But, perhaps the biggest issue surrounding the community right now is deciding what to put on the ballot for Bowling Green City Schools.
"It's a problem, or it's a situation, that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later," Aspacher said.
Back in November, voters turned down supporting a consolidated elementary school. The district's plans are unclear at this point, but Aspacher trusts the school board will decide what the next move is.
"I have faith they will go back and they'll go back and they'll engage with their constituents and the parents in our school system and they'll figure out what is going to be the best approach moving forward," he said.
The new mayor said he believes the school board will go back to the drawing board and put another levy out. And while he's leaving things in the hands of the school board and superintendent, he does believe a consolidated elementary school is a good idea.
"In my opinion, yes. I do, I think there comes a point where we have to listen to the education experts. Obviously members in our community felt the same way about that so, whether or not the school will choose to once again have that discussion to consider that as an option, that's a decision they will make," Aspacher said.
The Bowling Green school district has two operating renewal levies on the ballot this March. Neither of these levies are related to a consolidated school plan.