Athens County Commissioner candidates answered questions about fracking, balancing the budget, transportation and job creation Tuesday night at the first of six Candidates’ Forums.
About 70 Athens residents and elected officials packed the Athens Public Library on Home Street to interact with Republican Incumbent County Commissioner Larry Payne and Charlie Adkins, the Democratic challenger.
Many residents asked about the candidates’ plans to create jobs in the county. While Adkins touched on bringing new technology jobs to Athens, Payne said he wants to work to retain and expand jobs already in the county.
“Every county in the state, or even the country, is competing for new jobs, so we should work to retain (the jobs we have now),” Payne said. “We work to expand local companies and attract companies from wherever we can, and I can talk to business owners and tell them why business is successful in Athens County.”
Payne said a number of companies are currently expanding their jobs for the future, including Global Cooling, which has pledged 70 news jobs in the future. He said that diversifying the current businesses in Athens is the best idea.
“We should focus on diversification and entrepreneurship to make the businesses unique to Athens,” Payne said.
To retain and increase job growth among students in Athens, Adkins said camps and programs that provide part-time paid jobs for young people should be brought back.
“We should focus on businesses that don’t usually come to Athens,” Adkins said. “It’s not the commissioner’s job to just sit in an office. They should be out there trying to get businesses to come to Athens.”
Underwhelming business growth has prevented new jobs for students, Payne said, and some businesses — including technology firms CGI and Ed Map — have come to Athens County because they were attracted to the large student body from Ohio University and Hocking College.
“We want to make Athens more affordable so that students can stay here and find jobs, because they are our future,” Payne said. “Companies like CGI and Ed Map will make that possible.”
Richard Carlson, a retired Athens County resident, attended the debate and said one problem was that Payne only spoke about what was already going on, not what will be going on in the future.
“There are certainly differences and an amazing contrast between (Payne and Adkins),” Carlson said. “Adkins wants to go for more change, while Payne wants things to stay the way they are.”
Both candidates went back and forth on issues affecting the county, said Lloyd Wright, a retired Hocking College employee, who added that because the county is in good shape, he is sticking with the incumbent.
“I didn’t hear anything that was particularly realistic from (Adkins),” Wright said.
Candidates for Athens County Treasurer will debate at the next forum at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Athens Public Library on Home Street.
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