Nick McWilliams reporting – With election season in Tuscarawas County, the city of Uhrichsville has a choice to make for whom will represent the Democratic side of the docket in November.

On the May Primary ballot, incumbent Mark Haney is pitted against challenger Jim Zucal. 

Reflecting on his past term, Haney said that there are still plenty of goals he hopes to accomplish if his reelection bid is successful.

“We’ve got issues with the West Side where we see a lot of drug issues. We keep hitting those. We also want to improve our city services. We’d like to add a couple street personnel, we’d like to get to the 14 officers that they recommend from the study we had done. We’re working with a couple businesses to expand here in the city.”

Prior to being elected mayor, he spent years as a council member and as council president, and is employed by Dominion Energy.

Haney adds that when it comes to fiscal responsibility, he says that his administration has remained within budget during his tenure, something that he vows to continue. 

As for Zucal, who is still in the midst of his first term as a council member, he said that he wants more focus on dilapidated structures.

“We need more recreational opportunities. We need good, clean living. I think when you solve the issues with the blight, the degradation of some of the properties and the home conditions that some of these folks live in, a lot of them are rentals. It invites crime, it invites a type of people that we don’t really want.”

Additionally, Zucal said that he wants to see better community growth before focusing on public sector growth, and wants to see a push in taking advantage of state and federal dollars.

Both candidates have expressed similar views when it comes to focusing on efforts in decreasing crime and drugs in the city, and bolstering the economy through new business growth.

The winner of the primary will face the Republican candidate, Suzanne Bower, and potentially an independent.

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