The Newport City Commission is one of the most important institutions in the city. With the primary election approaching on May 17, Newport residents are eager to learn more about the candidates vying to become city officials.
2022 will prove to be a crucial year for Newport City Commission elections as two longtime commissioners, Jerry and Frank Peluso, are retiring. This opens up two commissioner seats.
The Newport Business Association and Fedders Construction recently hosted a “Candidates Night” forum at the Fedders Event Center. Candidates were given five minutes to inform voters on the platforms and resumes.
Ed Davis
Davis said he’s lived in Newport for 49 years, and describes the city as his home. Davis worked as a letter carrier for the US Postal Service. He retired from his career as a letter carrier to take care of his mother.
Davis has previously served as the president for the Westside Citizens Coalition in Newport for one year, vice president for one year, and treasurer for one year. Davis was also a vice president of the Steel Workers Union.
A hometown guy, Davis emphasized the importance of voting in the upcoming election for the betterment of Newport as a whole. Davis said he cares deeply about the city and wants to help it thrive.
“I’m here because I care about our city and I care about what we’re doing,” Davis said. “If you go to the election booth on May 17, Tuesday, as you go in there, I want you to ask yourself, the people that you’ve seen that you’ve met here tonight: who cares for our city? This is our future. This is where we are. Who cares about us? As we do this, ask yourself that question.”
Steve Megerle
Megerle is a Newport resident and an attorney. He said he chose Newport as the city to raise his son.
He’s run for political office before. In 2019, he unsuccessfully ran for the Cincinnati School Board as a Republican.
The three issues Megerle said he would focus on if elected to the city commission are crime, slumlords, and rising property taxes.
Megerle says the city needs adequate police and fire protection and an increase in the code enforcement department in order to crack down on out-of-state and absentee landlords.
Megerle declared River City Metals, a scrap metal recycling company located on Licking Pike, as a public nuisance.
“Who here has made their house shaken by River City Metals,” Megerle said. “That is a public nuisance, folks and the city commission should take a stronger stance.”
Megerle suggested it would be a good idea to use Newport’s American Rescue Plan Act money to invest in a new football stadium for Newport Independent Schools. The current Newport Stadium’s 80-year old concrete bleachers recently failed inspection for being structurally unsound.
“If you want people who are wanting to solve problems and get things done, I’m probably your person so I’d appreciate your vote and your consideration,” Megerle said.
Megerle’s past campaigns for public office have come with some controversy. In 2019, Megerle used a stock image of a black family behind an “Elect Megerle” slogan in a political ad. Megerle himself was not pictured in the ad. Mike Moroski of the Cincinnati School Board accused Megerle of “pretending to be black to get votes.”
In the same race, Megerle posted on Facebook that he had been endorsed by the Cincinnati African-American Firefighters Association.
Will West, CAFA president, condemned Megerle and said his post was “malicious attempt to use CAFA to interfere in the 2019 elections.”
West said CAFA does not endorse political candidates.
Megerle said the incident was a misunderstanding.
Rich Livingood
Livingood has been a Newport resident since 1999. Previously, Livingood was a pastor at MorningStar Chrisitian Life Center and Hospice Chaplain at Hospice of Southwest Ohio.
Livingood is a graduate of Northern Kentucky University, and has a Masters of Divinity from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
“My role as a hospice chaplain came to an end because of the restrictions that were applied to visiting patients,” Livingood said. “For the last year and a half or so, what was contemplating what to do for this next season of my life?”
Livingood said there’s always room for improvement, even though he believes Newport has seen a lot of positive change since the time he began living there. Livingood emphasized education, encouraging businesses to stay, improving city services and encouraging businesses to stay, and investing and supporting local families as the pillars of his campaign.
“Your mission is to work through the information and get to the who that you are voting for, and what they will do in office,” Livingood said.
Dave Capella
Capella has been a Newport resident for five and a half years, residing in the city with his wife Becky.
“I’ve seen a lot of change and a lot of positive change,” Capella said. “That really brings me to why I’m running. I’ve seen a lot of good things happen in the past five years since I’ve been in Newport. It’s important to be able to see that keep going. I want to see the renewal of the city. I want to see the development and growth, but at the same time, I want to be able to see us maintain our historical character and our neighborhood character.”
Capella has a diverse array of professional experiences. He currently works as a jail ministry coordinator at the Catholic Charities Diocese of Covington and a standardized patient at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine. Previously, he worked for 26 years at Johnson & Johnson in a variety of management positions.
Capella said his experience working at a variety of medium and large-sized companies in management roles has helped him find solutions for complex issues, and then implement those solutions. Capella also said he has experience working in environments from the shop floor to the board room, which has helped him develop his collaboration skills.
Capella’s platform priorities are public safety, maintaining neighborhood character, supporting the police, fire, and emergency services, improving the economic environment for small business development, improving infrastructure such as installing new sidewalks, and transparent and responsible decision making in regards to spending US taxpayer dollars.
Capella said he doesn’t want to see large, corporate developments such as Ovation hurt small businesses on “Main Street”.
Gordon Henry
Henry is a resident of Newport, a graduate of Newport High School, and is the only African-American candidate in the race.
Henry said he’s a product of the Newport Boy’s & Girl’s Club, which helped develop him into the person he is today. A stint at Americorp made Henry realize that he wanted to come back home and devote his time to the city that helped shape him.
Henry is currently an executive director at the Dayton Housing Authority and a former property manager at Cornerstone Renter Equity. He’s on the executive team of ReNewport, a Newport-focused community development non-profit, as well as sitting on the board of the New Leaders Council.
Henry’s campaign platform is focusing on key issues such as affordable housing, transportation, beautification, local and small business development, and diversity & inclusion.
When it comes to affordable housing, we are seeing a lot of bigger developments happening,” Henry said. “I would like to see a percentage of units set aside for 80% of the area’s median income or less. Many cities across the country are going with this process in order to be more vigilant about including affordable housing.”
Henry wants Newport’s housing developments to be unique and to have character, rather than rely on “cookie-cutter” designs.
For small business development, Henry wants to empower and encourage minority, LGBTQ+, and women-owned businesses.
“They can have innovative ways to help small businesses that are still navigating the pandemic and its effects, and making the process more sensitive for new folks looking to set up shop in Newport,” Henry said.
For transportation, Henry would like to improve Newport’s walkability by making it less reliant on car traffic. Henry proposes installing cycling lanes, and installing curb cuts and bump outs to slow down traffic and increase safety. According to Henry, people who bike and walk are three times more likely to spend money in the city of Newport as compared to drivers.
“We need to work together to make Newport a great place to live, work, shop, buy and play,” Henry said.
Julie Smith Morrow
Smith Morrow is a current school board member for Newport Independent Schools. She’s been on the Board since 2007.
Originally, Smith Morrow hails from Brookfield, WI where she graduated high school. As a single mother, Smith Morrow graduated from college with a Bachelors of Science in Agronomy, and a PhD in Crop Science from Texas Tech University. Smith Morrow is also a professional genealogist as she rediscovers her family’s Kentucky roots.
Smith Morrow has served in leadership roles for non-profits for approximately a quarter century. Previously, she held leadership roles for Dress for Success Cincinnati and the Freestore Food Bank. She’s served on the Gateway Board of Directors for five years.
As a member of the school board, Smith Morrow has worked to increase student achievement and graduation rates, building new operational arts programs, maintaining and upgrading building facilities, and managing education and the way it impacts the community.
“Why am I running? Well, I have a deep seated and personal commitment to children and families. I’m passionate about helping families with necessities like food, clothing and shelter, help people become educated and prepared to go to work, and make sure people have affordable quality housing,” Smith Morrow said.
Smith Morrow said she wants to improve the business environment of Newport, and help families and students dealing with challenging circumstances. Her top priorities are public safety and economic development.
Smith Morrow’s platform is focused on getting the city government adequately staffed, bringing revenue to Newport and providing good jobs for residents, supporting small businesses, bringing in quality affordable housing, providing more opportunities for homeowners, and helping solve infrastructure needs, environmental concerns and maintenance and rebuilding our city parks.
“My record shows I have leadership qualities and experience needed,” Smith Morrow said.
Beth Fennell
Fennell is a current Newport City Commissioner seeking reelection. The Fennell name has been in Newport for generations. According to Fennell, her family has operated different businesses in Newport dating back 140 years. Fennell is a graduate of Purdue University.
“I understand the challenges, especially the small businesses,” Fennell said.
Fennell said Newport’s success in recent years has come from a team effort between citizens, businesses, officials and residents.
Fennell said her skills are in areas “some might find boring” such as dissecting the city budget.
Fennell has been a member of the OKI Board of Directors since 1992 and the Executive Committee since 1998. All Federal transportation dollars flow through OKI and then to the individual municipalities granted funding. Through this partnership, Newport has received millions of dollars in transportation improvement funds.
“All of this has really helped our city maintain and keep a safer environment for transportation,” Fennell said.
Fennell emphasized that being a city commissioner is a team sport, and you have to work together in a team to accomplish goals.
Fennell said one of her best attributes is being a listener, someone community-members can come to when they need advice, or have a question that needs to be answered. Fennell said her election literature always includes her home phone number, her cell phone number, and her email address so residents can contact her directly.
“Exciting changes have occurred in Newport during my tenure from transformation of the Riverfront, development of numerous large scale projects in all parts of town and increased city wide residential opportunities,” Fennell said. “Simultaneously city staff, in partnership with the Board, residents, businesses and neighborhood groups, has improved infrastructure, parks, streetscape aesthetics and neighborhoods. Due to this combined effort, Newport is enjoying its most exciting growth and popularity period since inception in 1795.”
Ken Rechtin
Rechtin is a current Newport City Commissioner seeking reelection. Rechtin previously served as a city commissioner from 1992 to 2002, and a Campbell County Commissioner from 2003 to 2014.
Rechtin is a Northern Kentucky native and holds a degree from NKU. Rechtin has past professional experience in commercial banking, sales, and marketing.
Rechtin said he has weekly meetings with Newport City Manager Tom Fromme in order to discuss concerns and interests that arise during the week.
“I want to communicate those things to the people that can make changes in our city. We’re seeing governments or city managers using executive authority in our city running the day-to-day operations,” Rechtin said. “So weekly, I carry those concerns and interests to a meeting with him. Every week there’s a one hour meeting with him. He and I are on staff to talk about those issues.”
Rechtin discussed his accomplishments such as working together with the commission in order to put in 10 catch basins to prevent flooding throughout the city.
Prior to seeking elected office, Rechtin was an Ombudsman for the City from 1978 to 1980. He returned as City Commissioner in January of 2017. Rechtin has vast community service experience which includes committee work and leadership positions with the Municipal Government League of Northern Kentucky, the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, OKI, United Way, and Holly Hill.
“Why do I want to do this? It’s because I absolutely love doing this,” Rechtin said. “I really do enjoy it. I enjoy everything, like talking to people. I enjoy engaging in ideas and enjoy engaging conversation with you all. I love doing this job”
Mike Radwanski
Radwanski is a Michigan native who moved into the Greater-Cincinnati area in 2005 for work. Radwanski has worked for major American corporations such as GE Aviation, Honeywell and currently Johnson Controls.
Besides his professional career, Radwanski has served as a Gateway neighborhood representative, co-founded the Restoration Happy Hours, served on several citizen-driven steering committees, and the Code Enforcement Board.
Radwanski said the pandemic reshaped his life. Remote working gave him more time to focus on serving his community.
‘My parents instilled in me the values of community service, of listening to what others have to say, and to make sure that voices are heard,” Radwanski said.
Radwanski’s platform is focused on meeting and exceeding the goals of Newport’s Comprehensive Plan, financial transparency, upgrading infrastructure, creating a “smart corridor” on Monmouth Street, and bringing the community together with events.
“I want to make sure that we deliver on the comprehensive plan that we are talking about the Comprehensive Plan all the time. Creating strong and vibrant neighborhoods, economic prosperity, upgrading and maintaining our utility and storm water systems, creating a “smarter corridor” on Monmouth Street, bringing the community together especially after the pandemic with both events large and small,” Radwanski said. “Last but not least, safe and secure neighborhoods.”
Radwanski said he wants to create a more open, prosperous, future-focused, and citizen-driven Newport.
