Two in running for Dunkirk Mayor

One thing is certain: The next mayor of Dunkirk will be an engineer.
Democrat Dan Watson and Republican Gene Ritter both bring that credential to the race, and the two have other similarities in their backgrounds as well.
Watson, 50, defeated incumbent Mayor Ron Hunt in the May primary election, while Ritter, 47, was slated by the GOP this summer.
A graduate of Delta High School, Watson received his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Tri-State University in 1987. Since 1989, he has served as Jay County engineer. He served two full terms on the Dunkirk City Council, resigning after one year of his third term following the birth of his youngest child. He is president of the Dunkirk Industrial Development Corporation. He and his wife, Kelly, have three children.
Ritter was born in Detroit where his father was a quality control engineer for General Motors. Growing up in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana, he graduated from Batesville High School. He attended the University of Evansville for a year, received his associate’s degree from Cincinnati State University, attended Tri-State University, then completed his engineering degree at IUPUI. He and his wife, Andrea, have four children. They have lived in Dunkirk for 8 years. Ritter is group leader of power train for Autocar, a manufacturer of refuse trucks, in Hagerstown.
The two candidates sat down recently for separate interviews with The Commercial Review. Here’s what they had to say as the November election approaches.
What is the biggest challenge facing Dunkirk today?
Watson: “That’s a tough question. … Obviously the biggest problem was the water plant. I’m hoping that situation’s been corrected, and I think it has. And I think we’re in fairly good shape with the sewer department. There’s a major sewer project that they’re looking at. … I haven’t really gotten involved in that, but that’s going to be the biggest challenge I’m going to face … because it’s at the beginning stages. … I think they’re looking at a project that’s in excess of $3 million. But what disturbs me more than anything is that they were talking about a 60 percent increase in sewer rates. That’s not counting that project. I was floored when I heard that. … I kind of question that. … That’s going to be a big hit for people.”
Ritter: “The biggest challenge, I believe, is to bring people’s pride back. … We like it here. It’s a nice community. … I’m running for mayor and I’m hoping to make things better for everybody so we can get rid of this (negative) attitude, this stigma. We want to make this our permanent home for good. I’d like to see growth and opportunity be what Dunkirk’s known for and not all the negatives.”
How will you address that challenge?
Watson: “I don’t know the engineering firm they’re using or what kind of improvements they’re talking about. … The first thing I’m going to have to do is walk through the plant and see what the proposed improvements are and make sure we’re not overdoing what we need to do. … I’d like to get a better handle on what the improvements are and how much they’re needed. … The biggest thing that needs to be done is street work. … The streets have been let go.”
Ritter: “We need to bring business and jobs back to Dunkirk and make it an attractive place to be. … A lot of positives have taken place. The ball has started rolling. … We need to finish the job. I believe business has got to be a big part of that. I think that’s how you bring pride back.”
What are Dunkirk’s strengths and weaknesses?
Watson: “There are excellent people in this town. There’s a group of people that have Dunkirk’s best interests and they’re always moving forward with projects. The trees on the street are a good example. The Improvement Committee, the Beautification Committee, these are committees that have kind of formed on their own and have done a lot of things. We’ve got a good community center, we’ve got excellent parks, we’ve got a swimming pool. These things are stuff that a lot of towns would love to have. … Right now (the weakness) is leadership. … You’ve got all these different groups that are all trying to do good things. … There’s no leadership to bring it all together.”
Ritter: “The people are definitely one of the strengths and the infrastructure that’s there. …. We just need to improve it.
“I think the sewer is the next thing that needs to be improved. I think we need to make sure the water project gets finished properly. I haven’t seen any water test results to know if our water is improved. I know the coloration is improved. But is the quality improved? I don’t really know. … We need to start following through with everything. … We start all these projects all over the place. It seems there’s no plan to finish things up front. … With every project you need to plan. You need to know what your end goal is.”
What skills do you bring to the job?
Watson: “Experience obviously. I’ve been county engineer for 23 years. I’ve got so many networks out there of expertise to draw from, whether it’s at the state level, the local level, or the federal level. … I’ve been doing budgets for all these years. … I’ve been helping Dunkirk with its city budget for the last 15 years. … I understand the budget process. I’ve been around long enough to understand all the changes. … If I get elected, the council’s going to understand the budget. … They need to understand where this money’s coming from.”
Ritter: “What I bring to the table is how I would handle projects. I also believe I have the personality that can keep all the council focused and see a project through, keep them all working together as a team for the betterment of Dunkirk. I wouldn’t allow any internal fighting. I’m certainly not going to start any fighting amongst people. I’ve always operated under the team player principle. I feel like I’m a good team player. And I think I can bring that to the table for the betterment of our town and the taxpayers.”
With a full-time job, how are you going to juggle the added chore of serving as mayor?
Watson: “That scares me. That really does. I’ve got the full support of my wife or I wouldn’t be doing it. … My number one job is county engineer. That’s my job. This mayor job obviously is important. My hope is I can get the right people in the right places and they’ll take care of most of it. And I think they can. It’s been that way for years. They can handle the day-to-day stuff. I shouldn’t have to be in there more than a couple hours in the evening.”
Ritter: “I’m trying to prepare a little bit for that right now. … I’m a very, very hard-working guy. I have been my whole life. My dad was a hard-working guy. … I’ll give 190 percent at everything I do. I intend to give the mayor job 190 percent as well. … I’m a good communicator. I’ll always be available by phone. … I’m trying to dial back my hours a little bit at work. … I’m not unapproachable for sure. I’m easy going. I’ll talk to anybody. I intend to be available as much as people need me to be. Opening up some (office) hours on a Saturday morning might be a good thing.”
What’s your prime goal for the next four years?
Watson: “I just want to change the whole perception. I hate it when I hear people say, ‘I read about your last meeting. It sounds like a circus.’ And I’ve been to the meetings, and they are a circus. I don’t want the city council meetings to be Dunkirk’s entertainment every other Monday.”
Ritter: “We need to bring more businesses into the town in the next four years. We need to finish all the road projects that are currently going on and make sure they’re finished right. There’s a flooding problem going on in the Walnut Street area that definitely needs to be addressed. We need some street lights in some certain areas.”
Why should someone vote for you?
Watson: “I’m humbled by the fact that I had so much pressure to run. They’ve been wanting me to run for years. … I wish I could answer that question. I would like to think I could help things in Dunkirk and try to get along with everybody.”
Ritter: “I believe I’m a pretty common sense type of guy. I’ll be able to keep the council focused and working together as a team. I believe opportunity’s going to grow in Dunkirk. … My main focus is going to be business. … I want to work closer with the (city) departments. All the council’s going to have department (responsibilities).”[[In-content Ad]]