Local man throws hat in council's political ring

by JOHN LASKO

News-Times reporter

On Monday, Jan. 19, Amherst resident Phil Van Treuren officially announced he will be vying for one of three open council-at-large seats come November.

He is currently in the process of gathering the 50 required signatures on a petition which must be filed by 4 p.m. at the Lorain County Board of Elections on Thursday, Feb. 19 to secure his name on the November ballot.

"Starting to aggressively campaign in January isn't something that's usually seen in a city council race, but it's my way of showing the residents of Amherst how serious I am about serving on city council," Van Treuren said. "Since I want to be a councilman for everyone, I want to give every eligible resident the opportunity to take part in the first step of my campaign."

As of right now, Van Treuren faces opposition from fellow Republican Dennis Walters, who will seek to retain his current seat. Walters was recently appointed to fill Nick Brusky's vacated council-at-large seat for the next 10 months.

The two will not appear on the May 5 primary ballot because, for the time being, no more than three Republicans currently are running for the three open seats. According to the Lorain County Board of Elections, three Republicans and three Democratic candidates can run for council-at-large seats without having to appear on the primary ballot. Democratic incumbents Terry Traster and Bill VanderWyden will also seek re-election in the fall.

Van Treuren told the News-Times his wife, Jessica, and their three young children, Alex, 10, Andrew, 8, and Sophia, are the ones who have inspired him the most to seek a council-at-large position so he can make a positive difference in the community he has called home for nearly three years.

"Becoming a husband and a father was the greatest experience of my life," Van Treuren said. "I am going to do everything I can to make the community, where my kids are going to grow up and go to school, as safe and as beautiful as possible."

If elected to a two-year term as a councilman-at-large, Van Treuren plans on doing whatever it takes to attract new business, as well as keep existing businesses in the community. He is also a big supporter of revitalizing and preserving the historic buildings which line the streets of downtown Amherst, along with keeping the city beautiful and litter free.

"I used to be the associate director of Main Street Elyria and now I'm involved with Main Street Amherst as well," Van Treuren said. "The Main Street program is great because they believe in what I believe in, which is they encourage revitalization of downtown's and beautifying them as well."

He would also like to continue keeping Amherst safe and family friendly, which in turn promotes residential growth throughout the community.

"I'm a big supporter of safety services like the police department, the volunteer fire department and I think keeping the community safe is also going to be one of my top priorities," he said.

Starting now, Van Treuren looks forward to running an extremely aggressive campaign by going door-to-door, distributing literature, as well as talking to residents on the street to find out what issues are on their minds and what changes they would like to see happen either in their own neighborhood or throughout the city, in an attempt to get his name out there as early as possible.

"It may be intimidating for some people, but to me, it's exciting," he said. For three years, Van Treuren was a professional campaign consultant who worked on numerous congressional, mayoral, commissioner and city council races throughout Ohio and in several other states after working as a reporter for a local newspaper for several years.

"When it comes to city politics, to me, being a Democrat or Republican doesn't have much to do with what kind of job you are going to do," he said. "My interests are for the city first and not for a (political) party. And this race is going to allow me to be a little less partisan and allow me to focus more on solutions for the city of Amherst as opposed to politics."

After parting ways as a campaign consultant, Van Treuren joined the United States Army National Guard in 2004 where he served as a second lieutenant in the Combat Engineer Corps. While he was never deployed overseas, he was mobilized to help with relief efforts days after Hurricane Katrina destroyed New Orleans, La., and much of the Gulf Coast.

At about the same time, he started his own website design business entitled "Ohio State Web Design." And if that was not enough, he joined Lorain County Sewer and Drain last October as their marketing director.

Van Treuren was born in Lorain and lived there until he was eight years old, when his family moved to Nevada.

"I've always considered this home," he said. "I would come back every summer to live with my grandparents."

After graduating from college, he moved back to Lorain County, where he and his family call Amherst their permanent home.

"I'm looking forward to meeting as many people as I possibly can," Van Treuren said. "By starting my campaign early, it will give me the ability to knock on as many doors as possible and meet and get to know a much larger number of people who live in the city of Amherst."