We are altering our publishing schedule to accommodate the volume of candidate interviews we need to deliver before election day. Monday - Wednesday - Friday
For our 4th installment we’re joined by candidate for City Council re-election Pete Marsh!
Pete has been on Council for two stints - first as an appointee and then again for a full term. This would be his second elected term and he joined us to talk about what he feels has been accomplished, what he’d still like to do, and how he thinks this next era of Hilliard could be the most consequential.
We start by talking about…well, what we’re doing here. Using the recent “Meet the Candidates” event to illustrate the benefits of this longer interview format we get right into Pete’s perception of what it takes to run a meaningful campaign in these cycles and how he approaches gathering input for each new election.
We then get right into the polarizing language choice of the “Save Hilliard” campaign and the amount of tread left on the tires of some of the more sensational aspects of video production in general. No stranger to politics, Marsh acknowledges the need to bring people to the process - especially locally - but he’s taking a different tack. Time will tell if the approach is successful but he believes there’s “plenty of room for disagreement,” and that discussion on the merits with meaningful information - not fear based appeals - are the way forward.
Jordan asks Pete to go through the five available presented claims from the opposing candidates and Pete’s relative positions.
How the comprehensive plan facilitates the operation of the city’s entire blend of services - to everyone’s benefit.
How the 15k in 15k out daily work commuters and general move away from high volume office space has changed the focus of the plan over the years regarding “mixed use” style developers and municipality preferences.
How ‘apartment’ as a “four letter word” has its roots in something other than property taxes created and number of students generated as those perceptions are outdated.
How the evolving process provides a lot of checks and controls to provide what a large percentage of people would consider reasonable and or neighborly and Pete considers these as an already existing goal and guideline for planning and zoning over his years on council.
Jordan mentions something he noticed on conceptual plans reproduced in the comprehensive plan and how clear language was cropped out of a lot of campaign literature at the recent rally. Pete then talks about the additional levels of nuance involved in any project going forward under the new plan.
On the topic of “Keeping Taxes and Traffic Low” Pete describes the way “per acre” calculations within the comprehensive plan have provided more awareness of how student and city populations really grow and change through development and how future collaborations might come about between city and schools based on these understandings.
Kevin breaks his silence to question whether all this comprehensive planning is the best way to distill and summarize the importance of directed growth. Pete responds and explains why “Standing Still” isn’t a meaningful option when ongoing economic needs and existing infrastructure require active planning already - to say nothing of oncoming growth.
Kevin then follows up with a general question about public service and why Pete still feels the desire to still pursue the seat in a more charged atmosphere all while raising a young family.
We then ask if there’s a particular twenty or so pages of the Community Plan that excites Pete and he points right to the Retired Rail Corridor Section that would transverse the City on a line and provide a unique range of development and connections to other major trails and networks.
https://hilliardohio.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/HilliardPlanFinal_Online.pdf
Shifting to more immediate development concerns we ask about the recent TruePointe and ADS news with some takes on additional employers to come and the “new to Hilliard” amenities and special destinations Equity has been courting (information to come within the next 30 days on that front.)
Tim asks about the former ADS headquarters and the potential downside of the real estate / location swap regarding taxes for the city. Jordan follows up with the usual range of TIF concerns and questions about the evolving city charter and local power sharing.
Pete describes the moving pieces and the competitive climate generated by these complex financials and his process - as well as the city mechanisms - for looking at these choices and relationships
Jordan asks about how Pete sees the relationships between those TIF decision partners (City, Schools, and Township) and how growing and strengthening the collaborative network will provide better, more deeply understood policy on all fronts.
Jordan finishes up by asking about going from an excited to serve newbie to one of the “old guys” on council and how it’s been going through that growth process - first as a candidate and then as a councilperson.
Kevin concludes with the final music based question we’ve all come to love by asking Pete - what state fair level “big get” music act would he like to recruit to play a fun one-nighter in Hilliard!
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