By Lindsey Rowland
news@wbcowqel.com
On Thursday evening, the Republican Committee of Crawford County met in the lower level conference room of the Crawford County Courthouse. Five representatives of precincts in the area carefully considered a ballot in front of them that listed the three names of the candidates who would be up for Mayor of Bucyrus. In less than five minutes, the votes were cast, the results tallied, ballots destroyed, and the verdict was announced: Jeff Reser will be our new mayor.
Reser will be taking over in succession to the late Roger Moore, who passed away on May 20, and will finish out the term that Moore left behind. Reser had been treasurer of the Believe in Bucyrus campaign when the city put an income tax levy on the ballot in 2012, working alongside Moore to get the levy passed.
Reser, who owns Lee’s Comfort Shoes, grew up in Bucyrus and, although he moved to Columbus for college, found that he and his wife had an undeniable tug toward the small town he called home. Now that they are back, Reser is heavily involved in the community and is “thrilled” with this opportunity to do give back as the Mayor. Looking ahead toward his upcoming term, Reser has big vision for Bucyrus.
“Small towns have to work together,” Reser said, “…the government, the citizens, the educations, the school systems, all the business communities; we have to work together to move us forward and to assess our problems and come up with solutions. Every small town is in the same boat right now; the problems are unique to our time, so we have to come up with new thoughts…new solutions, and the towns that work together to come up with those solutions will be the ones that thrive.”
And Reser does take a lot of pride in the place he calls home. He says, “I think people really like living in small towns, I know I do! I love being five minutes form work. I can walk there if I want! We have a perfect location, we’re right in the middle of a lot of things.”
Mayor Reser also deeply believes in the downtown atmosphere of Bucyrus, boasting its own “zest” that needs to be maintained to showcase all that there is to see and do.
Ultimately, though, Reser is just really excited to begin his duties. He spoke very highly of the many people involved in making this city run as it does.
“I’m so excited to be working with them, and I hope to do my very very best for the city of Bucyrus.”
Reser will be sworn into office early next week.