(Photo Illustration/MetroCreativeConnection)

PARKERSBURG — The longest-serving member of Parkersburg City Council, Mike Reynolds, faces former state Delegate Brenda Brum in the race for council’s District 6 seat.

Reynolds won a three-person Republican primary in May and is seeking his sixth full term on council after winning a special election in 2005. Aside from those years of experience, Reynolds said owning his own landscaping business has taught him a lot that is useful in his governmental role.

“There’s no better way to learn everything about taxes and finances than owning a small business for 33 years,” he said. “Fiscal responsibility is what’s on my mind every morning when I wake up.”

Changes to the landscaping business have helped him learn more that can be applied to public works projects, Reynolds said.

“The landscape business has morphed over into a lot of … outdoor construction-type projects,” he said.

Reynolds said he would like to see through to completion a number of projects that are underway in the city, including construction of the last replacement of three Depression-era fire stations. He noted that he proposed the initial funding for the first one more than eight years ago.

Reynolds said he would like to increase funding to programs the city offers to help people make needed repairs to their homes and get more of those projects done.

After serving two terms in the House of Delegates in the 1990s, Brum said she’s running for council “to offer a different perspective.”

Brum said economic growth depends on housing availability but she feels the city spends more on the former than the latter. One approach could involve reusing material from demolished dilapidated structures to build new ones.

“I just wonder how many homes could be built with the lumber from the (recently razed City Park) pavilion,” she said.

Brum would like the city to look at potential changes to its charter, including shifting from a strong mayor form of government to a city manager.

“It gives you an opportunity to change them if they don’t seem to be a good fit for the city,” she said. “Sometimes you’re stuck with elected officials.”

Brum said some people discussed eventually going back and looking at reducing the user fee when it was initially implemented and that ought to be done.

“Even when we’ve got money, that’s never a consideration,” she said.

“I always felt like we needed to treat tax dollars like it’s our own money, because it is,” Brum said.

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Parkersburg City Council District 6 Candidates

Mike Reynolds

Age: 52

Address: 2017 Washington Ave.

Party: Republican

Occupation: owner, Reynolds Landscape

Past offices: incumbent, five-and-a-half terms on council

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Brenda Brum

Age: 70

Address: 1717 20th St.

Party: Democrat

Occupation: retired educator, Wood County Schools

Past offices: two terms in the West Virginia House of Delegates