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WARREN -- Democrats voting in the Warren mayoral primary election will choose between the established and the new for city voters.
Voters will decide whether they want to give incumbent Mayor Doug Franklin an opportunity to tie Daniel Sferra as the longest-serving mayor in the city's history or veer in a different direction by electing Councilman at-Large Kenneth MacPherson as their candidate.
No Republican candidate has filed to run in the primary. Therefore, unless an independent candidate registers by May 1, the winner of the Democratic primary will have a clear path to the mayor's seat.
MacPherson, 56, was elected the 5th Ward councilman in 2017 and then won the seat as a councilman at-large in 2021. He has worked to make sure the administration's efforts are scrutinized and questioned by council.
Often carrying a laptop into committee and council meetings, MacPherson routinely raises pointed questions about why the administration or city department heads ask council to approve budget requests.
MacPherson has been willing to fight against votes of other council members. This included even seeking voter rejection of an ordinance council passed to establish a city-owned impound lot in 2021. The effort failed after the board of elections ruled he did not get enough valid signatures for ballot placement.
Franklin, 66, first was elected as a 4th Ward councilman in 1990, then served as a councilman at-Large from 1913 to 1996; council president from 1996 to 2003; former mayor Michael O'Brien's safety-service director from 2004 to 2011; and then mayor. He's held that seat for nearly 13 years.
Franklin believes he has worked well with political, business and community leaders to get things done. He has led by building collaborations and bridges.
KENNETH MacPHERSON
MacPherson is running for the top job, in part, because of frustrations he has felt as a councilman in attempting to get things done.
"We have had decades of excuses of why we can't accomplish things," he said. "The city makes easy problems difficult and hard problems impossible. I come from a background where we work the problem. That's who I am.
"I look at systems to figure out the root cause (of problems)," MacPherson continued. "I am goal- and result-driven."
The councilman is critical of the city for not addressing flooding and its effects on homes and businesses.
MacPherson suggests the $72 million sewer infrastructure project that began when he first was elected will not solve storm and sanitary sewer backups into basements in residential neighborhoods. Even with the multimillion dollar project, about 40 percent of the city's homes will be susceptible to flooding, he argues.
"We should fix those things that are our fault," he said. "We know it rains in northeast Ohio, and our sewer system is aging. We are prioritizing the upgrade of a pumping plant, instead of neighborhoods."
MacPherson said one of his early goals, if elected, would be to establish a backflow prevention program. American Rescue Plan Act, or ARP, funds could be used to place backflow preventers in thousands of Warren homes that flood, he suggested.
"We don't do enough preventive maintenance for the cleaning of sewer pipes," MacPherson said. "There is so much gravel on the roads. We have had thousands of tons of aggregate that's been clogging up our sewers."
He also suggested $4 million worth of ARP funds should be used to fix city sidewalks to make Warren a more walkable community. ARP also can be used to help residents who cannot afford to trim trees with limbs that have become safety hazards, he said.
MacPherson said since becoming the head of council's engineering committee, he's worked with the city's director of engineering to establish minimum requirements for all positions.
"Prior to this agreement, we had no technical requirements," he said. "The director did not have to be an engineer, let alone a professional engineer. We now have requirements on all levels. … This is a big step forward."
If elected, MacPherson said he will bring this level of professional requirements to other city departments.
He said his administration would measure people's performance by focusing on key indicators, which look at whether they accomplish predetermined milestones.
"This is the way to drive modern leadership and management," he said.
MacPherson argues Franklin's administration has become complacent and lacks drive.
The councilman supports the plan to further develop the downtown area announced by Fund for Warren's Future, the Franklin administration and Dayton-area developer Larry Dillin.
"I'm always skeptical of election year leadership," he said. "However, I have hope real positive things can happen."
DOUG FRANKLIN
"All the things I've done since first being elected to council, I think, was God preparing me for this job," Franklin said. "It has given me legislative and administrative experience I need."
The mayor emphasized it was not his lifelong dream to become Warren's mayor; however, the skills he's acquired and people he has met prepared him for the job.
"When I stepped into city hall, the landscape was quite different than it is today," Franklin said. "The city was in a bad financial situation. I inherited a police, fire and road tax that was not very popular. Yet, we've been able to meet all of those challenges while simultaneously being able to deliver services to residents."
Franklin describes the city today as in the best financial shape than at any time during his political career.
"That's regardless to the (more than $28 million) in ARP funds we received," he said. "That's due to a lot of controlling our spending and merging the city's emergency services calls with Trumbull County's 911."
Franklin said that action alone saved the city more than a half-million dollars.
He adds the city's decisions to allow JAC Management to manage Packard Music Hall and to change the management of the city-owned Old Avalon Golf Course have lowered the city's spending during this period.
Prior to JAC Management taking over music hall operation, the city was spending $600,000 per year on the facility.
"They are bringing in entertainment that the city could not," Franklin said.
"We are using the private community a lot more effectively to help us deliver those services," he continued. "These actions have helped us balance our budget every year."
Franklin said his administration has negotiated five contracts with city unions that required pay freezes.
"That does not happen very often," he said. "Our employees know we are in this together. It is important to all of us."
Warren has experienced a population decline since 2010 from 41,557 to 39,020 in 2021, according to the U.S. Census.
"It is happening in most legacy cities where there has been a large drop in manufacturing jobs," Franklin said. "We are doing things now to reverse those trends."
He cites two projects that are expected to expand housing and job opportunities as examples of efforts to move the city forward.
"There is the downtown expansion project," he said. "One strategy is to address the demand for increased housing created by jobs at Ultium (Cells) and Foxconn. People want to be close to the downtown area. Downtown is now a destination for new residents."
"Also, the demolition of the old St. Joseph Riverside Hospital provides a chance to create a mixed-use area" on the west side, Franklin said.
A new project being developed by Warren West Development Corp. on the city's southwest side in the area formerly known as Westlawn also is expected to bring in more than $10 million of investment and new job opportunities.
Franklin described his administration as working with neighboring communities in creating projects and establishing joint economic development districts that will benefit the region.
Franklin's efforts to work with area business developers has not been all positive.
Mark Marvin, a developer who has heavily invested in the city's downtown, last year criticized the administration for not maintaining some areas in the downtown and for failing to hold other investors to a higher standard in maintaining properties.
"We are appreciative of Mark's investments in downtown," Franklin said. "He has the right to vent his frustrations."
He noted the city has worked to address problems as soon as it becomes aware of them. Franklin added, however, that sometimes problems are on privately-owned properties that take time to address because, even when cited, the property owners can go through the courts to delay improvements.
CITY CHARTER ISSUE
MacPherson has been a supporter of residents pushing for charter government. Although he said he is not a member of Warren Deserves Better, the organization pushing the charter, MacPherson has attended most of the meetings and has led meetings in council to explain the process.
"If it passes, I would do whatever I can to help the people," MacPherson said. "I won't denigrate people looking for change. People have to believe Warren can do better."
Franklin, meanwhile, is critical of the charter effort's timing. He prefers that the city remain a statutory form of government following Ohio Revised Code.
And if the idea of a charter is to be addressed, Franklin said he would have preferred it come in a year in which there is not simultaneously a mayoral election and all council seats also were not on the ballot.
"I also question the way this was put on the ballot," Franklin added. "Usually, the most successful charter initiatives are community driven, not by a councilman and a handful of people."
He expressed concerns that developers might have worries about a local government that appears unstable and decide to not commit to investing their dollars and energies.
"I know these investors are reading what is happening," Franklin said. "They want stability."