Four vying for GOP nomination

Contested races are few and far between for this year’s municipal primary.

But at least one race is full.

Four candidates — incumbent John Boggs, Joel Smitley, Jeff Westlake and Todd Wickey — are vying for the Republican nomination for mayor of Portland in the election that kicks off with early voting Monday.

Boggs is finishing his first term as mayor of Portland after defeating incumbent Democrat Randy Geesaman in the 2019 general election. He previously had a 48-year career in sales and management, including as general manager of WPGW Radio.

Smitley is a 1997 Jay County High School graduate. He has worked at McAfee Recycling for about seven years and previously worked at Minnich Poultry.

Westlake attended Jay County High School and earned his general education diploma (GED) in 1994. He has worked for Portland Police Department for 17 years, first as a reserve and then as a full-time dispatcher.

Wickey retired from Portland Police Department after 26 years in 2020 and had previously served as Geneva’s police chief. He served one term on Jay County Council from 2003 through 2006.

Smitley and Westlake are each making their first run for elected office.

Each candidate was asked the same series of questions. Their answers, which were condensed to 100 words each, are as follows:



What do you see as the most important issue facing The City of Portland and how would you approach it?

Boggs: Flooding. I’ve already addressed that, but the second step to the flooding is the Millers Branch watershed, which is up north. We’ve got one proposal and I’m going to seek more to see how we can control the watershed and how much water and how fast the water flows through Portland. I think that’s key to not overtaxing the Millers Branch pipe that goes through town and keeping the flooding out of the northeast part of the community. And that’s actually the second step of the Meridian Street drainage project, the next logical step.

Smitley: I honestly think that there’s a lot of corruption in Portland. It seems like to me it’s, “My way and this is how we’re going to do it.” They’re not asking the people, “What do you think we should do?” One of the big examples is the trash pick-up. Another thing is the drug issue that we’re facing. When the drugs are everywhere … it’s hard to get rid of it. … Everyone needs to be included in everything. … It should be the people of Portland — “How do you want to do it?” The people need to have a voice.

Westlake: Trying to get everybody to think on the same level and the same unity steps. … We have a long history of people losing their ethics. We’ve become a system of entitled people and that hard work ethic seems like it’s maybe generationally gone away. I’m wondering just how can we reconnect to that. I’d like to get people to be reconnected to that somehow. Because sometimes our values are questioned and compromised when we don’t stay connected or stay grounded to something we believe in.

Wickey: I want to bring back the city clean-up, trash pick-up. We need some common sense in the mayor’s office. How am I going to do that? I’m going to bring that back — heavy pick-up and city clean-up. Another thing is blighted properties. We used to do those … There’s a few homes in town that need demolition. They’re not livable and they need to come down. I want to clean up Portland the best I can.



Downtown revitalization is an ongoing goal for small cities across the nation. How would you help to improve Portland’s downtown area?

Boggs: First off, I would continue the Main Street initiatives. I think they’ve done a wonderful job. The redevelopment commission has supported that very, very well. In addition to that, I think we need to continue to look at blighted buildings downtown and either get them in shape or take them down. That’s not as easy as just talking about it because there’s funding sources you have to find and the adjacent buildings are always a concern too.

Smitley: I disagree with the bump outs. I don’t think it’s a good idea. But I think we need to look at the frontage first. … A lot of the storefronts, there’s a lot of them that’s empty … that have been empty for so long. … It seems like (businesses) come and they go. They don’t stay very long. … I’m not honestly sure how I’m going to approach that without the people’s voice. … You’ve got to give people a reason to want to come to Portland and want to put a business in there.

Westlake: I would like to personally get out there and motivate. … I think we also need to get out there and talk to the business owners and see if they can maybe take a little bit more care of the buildings … I don’t want Portland to be just known for the crumbling buildings, I want it to be remembered for the very nice buildings when people drive through. … I think it’s going to take all of us. … I think when you include the businesses and the people themselves, they might take a little bit more pride.

Wickey: Seeking grants, if we can get them, to get some of these buildings so they’re economically functionally. Some of these old, brick buildings, the windows are 100 years old. They’re not efficient. We need to get those buildings efficient so it’s more feasible for store owners. And the other thing is we need to make sure that there’s no flooding downtown. Because you don’t want to have a store and then have it under water. … People want to park and go in the door. … So we need to make sure these businesses are accessible, where there’s parking right there.



As mayor, what would you do to make Portland a better place in which to live?

Boggs: I think we’ve done a lot with the park system, the amenities, the JCDC campaign — Make My Move. We’ve really focused on quality of life. Portland, as a city has about 140% acreage dedicated to park systems as compared to other cities our size. We’d like to extend that and I think we’ve done a very good job with our five-year plan that we submitted to the Department of Natural Resources.

Smitley: We need to have more community gatherings. Maybe once a month have a Main Street get together and have the local businesses have a meet and greet and have a band and have a time that people can come together and have a good time. It doesn’t seem like to me we have enough things in town that people can really do. I think doing special events to bring people together, I think that’s important. Bringing people together I think is a big thing.

Westlake: I would have to get out there and try to talk to them and try to inspire and motivate them. If I couldn’t do it on a group level, I’d like to do it on an individual level. I don’t think that our mayors in the past have gotten out there and taken the time and listened to certain people and their ideas.

Once these people get the understanding that the mayor’s job is to build relationships and to get in connection with them, I think they give the city more trust that way. They’ll give our city entities the trust and maybe soften their stance on their issues that they have against our city authorities.

Wickey: I’ll bring back more efficient government. And I want to bring back city services that are available for everybody. The city water office, I want to arrange the schedule so they’re open on Saturdays. … I want to make it convenient. … I want to make sure that our property tax base meets our needs. And I want to clean the place up. I’m not a big fan of assuming ownership of blighted factories. The old Sheller-Globe was a bad move. … We need to watch our dollars better. And I will treat those tax dollars like they’re my own.



What other issues are most important to you and why?

Boggs: I think the first responsibility of the mayor is the safety of the citizens. And when I look at all the different issues that come across my desk, everything from COVID-19 to the safety of our streets, a stronger police department, fire department … as you filter it through the safety of our citizens, I think that’s the highest priority that a mayor can give to his city.

Smitley: There’s nothing for our kids to do in town. … Last year the pool was closed. We have no (movie) theater. We’ve got to have some kind of a structure for people to be able to come together and enjoy each other’s company and kind of make like a harmony within the people. … It seems like the harmony, when I was a kid here, has left. I just don’t feel the love anymore, like we used to have when I was a kid.

Westlake: I would say that maybe people need to understand their own situation before looking down on others … There can be a stain in the community when people look down on others. Because of that, their confidence level is not up to the area we would like it to be. … And I would like to be able to motivate and get them connected to those things. … I don’t believe that the handshaking and relationship-building needs to stop when we get in the office. … It just hasn’t been done enough. It just needs to be a continual thing.

Wickey: I want transparency. I don’t want any self-serving politics — any type of hiring or board of works structure is going to adhere to the nepotism or conflict of interest law. All city vehicles are going to be marked, with GPS. … It’s a safety issue for people — our citizens — to know who wants access into their home. … I want more communication with the city council so they know what the upcoming issues are so they can do their own research and vote accordingly. … I want to bring back accountability. … Everybody in our city government will be held accountable for what they do, including myself.



Why should the residents of Portland vote for you?

Boggs: Because I’ll tell them the truth. There have been a lot of situations where I would be a lot more popular if I had made other decisions. But the decisions I made, I made with all the information I had at that time.… I put a block and a half of reverse-angle parking and got feedback. … It wasn’t too popular, but I did have the justification to go back to INDOT (Indiana Department of Transportation). And there have been other decisions I’ve made that sometimes the citizens don’t know why I make them, but I do it for a good reason.

Smitley: I think that I have a caring, loving heart. And anything and everything I would do I would pray about first. I think that’s important, that you should pray about any decision that you make that involves the people. I don’t think that you should jump to anything and say, “Let’s hop in, let’s do this.” … It’s important to go before the Lord with anything. … I care about people. I genuinely love people. I love being around people. I just want what’s best for our community.

Westlake: That would have to go back to my belief that I have the ability to motivate a little bit better than the other mayors have. I can’t say that I’m Tony Robbins, by any means. But I love to get people to looking at the softer side of things rather than looking at things so harshly. … The only way we can recognize what’s in front of us is maybe to remove some of these walls, blind spots and things that we’re building that keep us from going forward.

Wickey: I care about my community. I care about it deeply. And I don’t like the direction that it’s going. If they care about their community as passionately as what I do, then they need to vote for me so I can get this turned around. And I want to make Portland attractive to new residents looking for a place to live, businesses looking for a place to start up, industry looking for a place to start their factories … so we can keep our tax base like it should be.