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EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the fourth in a series of stories previewing contested primary races for Parkersburg City Council seats.
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PARKERSBURG -- The longest-serving member of Parkersburg City Council faces two challengers in the District 6 Republican primary.
Mike Reynolds first won the council seat in a 2004 special election to fill a vacancy and has been re-elected five times since.
"I'd like to do one more term on council. Things have been going really well," he said.
Reynolds said the past three years are among the city's best on record financially.
"We've been able to get a lot of great projects done," he said.
Reynolds noted he helped with "setting the tone" on efforts to replace the city's three Depression Era fire stations. Two new stations have been built, and having the third one completed is among the projects he said he wants to see through to completion. Others include widening the sidewalk and street on 19th Street and installing a new sea wall around the City Park pond.
"I'm definitely heavy on the public works side, with having a landscaping business for 33 years," Reynolds said.
The 6th District includes City Park, and Reynolds supports plans to build a proposed $13 million recreation and activity facility on the site of the nearly 100-year-old pavilion. Reynolds said he plans to work with the administration to recover the estimated 1% of green space that could be lost to the new construction.
Arthur Dunn said he was encouraged by members of MOV Citizen Action Coalition to run for the seat and believes he would bring "common sense" to the job. One-size-fits-all approaches don't always work, he said.
"I've been in a practical field my whole life, and what works there might not work here," Dunn said.
He said he would like to see issues like property maintenance addressed proactively with people before city departments like code enforcement have to get involved. This could be accomplished by neighbors working together, Dunn said.
"If it can be addressed and easily ... well, why don't you just take care of the people?" he said.
Having worked extensively with trees in his career, Dunn is concerned about lower hanging trees that could impede emergency responses or those that are too close to or growing into power lines. He'd also like to look at ways to improve the snow removal process, possibly looking into using beet juice, which has a low freezing temperature, instead of salt, depending on the cost.
"I think with a little bit of tweaking you could make everybody's life a lot easier," Dunn said.
Whitlatch has never run for office before but has family members who served in public office, including her mother, former Mayor Helen Albright. She compared the city's elected officials, workers and residents to gears in an engine.
"But (the citizens) seem to be left out of the system," she said. "They supply the oil; they supply the money to keep everything running."
Whitlatch said city officials need to do a better job of communicating with residents, including allowing for two-way conversation, not just listening during council meetings' public forum.
"You don't usually find out (about decisions) until after it's done," Whitlatch said. "The people should know about it ahead of time and maybe have input if it affects them directly."
Cathy Whitlatch said she believes the activity center should not be built in City Park.
"You can't expand there. There's no place to go," she said.
When faced with decisions on council, Whitlatch said she would ask questions from both sides and try to consider future effects.
"I have been told that I ask a lot of questions," she said. "It takes time and information for me to make a decision."
Whitlatch added that she believes it's good to have "new eyes" look at issues.
The victor in the GOP primary will face Democrat Brenda Brum in the general election. Brum is unopposed in her primary.
Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com
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Arthur John Dunn
* Age: 68
* Address: 2202 Latrobe St.
* Occupation: retired line clearance expert for utility and private companies
* Past offices: first run
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Mike Reynolds
* Age: 51
* Address: 2017 Washington Ave.
* Occupation: owner, Reynolds Landscape LLC
* Past offices: 19 years on council, first elected in 2004
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Cathy Whitlatch
* Age: 69
* Address: 1902 19th St.
* Occupation: retired, worked in a variety of jobs with the public
* Past offices: first run