Four-way race

The race for the Republican nomination for mayor of Portland has gotten crowded.

Todd Wickey became the fourth candidate for the bid when he filed his paperwork to run for mayor early Wednesday afternoon.

Also filing Wednesday was incumbent Christy Curts for the Democratic nomination for Dunkirk City Council District 4.

Wickey joins incumbent John Boggs, Joel Smitley of McAfee Recycling and Portland police dispatcher Jeff Westlake in what is now a four-way race for the GOP nomination for mayor. Former two-term mayor Randy Geesaman is the lone Democrat who has filed to run for mayor of Portland thus far.

The deadline to file to run in this year’s election, which includes mayor, clerk-treasurer and city and town councils, is noon Friday.

Wickey grew up in Geneva, serving as police chief there for eight years and then moved to Portland and spent an additional 26 years with Portland Police Department before retiring in 2020. He spent about 20 years as the department’s investigator.

“I want to better my community,” said Wickey of his reason for filing to run for mayor. “I’ve watched it — the last administrations — go in a direction that I don’t personally approve. I want to bring back city services to the citizens. They need to get what they’re paying for in return.”

Wickey brought up a lengthy list of issues he’d like to address as mayor, including bringing back city clean-up, holding department heads accountable and tracking use of city-owned vehicles. He was critical of decisions of previous administrations, such as taking ownership of the Sheller-Globe south building and selecting what he referred to as “the wrong engineering firm” for Portland Water Park.

“I want to bring back the city it was when I moved here,” he said. “It was clean. Everything operated very well. I want to bring all that back.”

Wickey previously held elected office, serving one term on Jay County Council from 2003 through 2006.

Boggs is seeking a second term as mayor after defeating Geesaman in the 2019 general election. Smitley and Westlake are making their first runs for elected office.

Curts was appointed by local Democrats to fill the District 4 seat on Dunkirk City Council after former council member Lisa Street gave it up when she moved out of the district. She is now seeking her own elected term in office and is currently unopposed for the primary.