As an interested voter in Athens County, I have become very sick of the negative campaigning and misinformation that has been printed regarding the county engineer’s race. Upon checking and re-checking the accusations and misinformation given by Mr. Maiden, I have found the following to be true:
Mr. Stanley does live in Athens County and has since he became County Engineer in 1979, filling the engineer’s position from Mr. Maiden’s father, who resigned because of bargaining issues with the newly formed Union within the department.
Mr. Stanley’s employees now have paid health insurance as one of their negotiated benefits. Mr. Stanley pays the same percentage for his health insurance coverage as other elected officials.
The chards sent out by Mr. Maiden do not reflect current updates regarding actual hard surfaced roads and gravel roads and bridges in Athens County. The State Department advised that one check the County Engineer’s records for facts because the state information is not updated on a regular basis. It is simply a repository for the summaries of the county's data.
The ability to truly be fiscally responsible lies totally with Mr. Stanley, a fact that has been proven for the last 32 years with a budget always in the black and a carry-over. Mr. Maiden’s records show a business bankruptcy and four lawsuits filed in Athens County for non-payment debts.
Regarding SB 5, where was Mr. Maiden? He says he signed the petition to repeal SB 4, but when it came to actively standing up and state his objections to the bill, Mr. Maiden was nowhere to be found. However, Mr. Stanley not only signed the petition but was there and spoke openly regarding the union’s right to have the power to bargain their contracts.
I ask that citizens of Athens County retain Archie Stanley as our county engineer. He is a full-time engineer, honest to a fault, competent and financially responsible. His family, employees and you are always his first concern. Please join me in voting for Archie Stanley on March 6th.
Roger Blevins resides in Chauncey.
