NEW BOSTON — New Boston Mayor James Warren this year is defending his seat in the November General Election against New Boston Village Councilman Terry Salyers.

Warren has been mayor since 1994, and said his greatest accomplishment has been his cooperation with others for the development of New Boston business and industries. As mayor, Warren also has a seat on the Southern Ohio Port Authority (SOPA), which has helped the village remediate brownfield sites and attract new industries, such as OSCO, A&M Refractory, SFI of Ohio, and Infra-Metals.

“If people look at the community and see the growth, it’s been tremendous,” Warren said, pointing to businesses such as the Walmart Supercenter mall, CVS, Golden Corral and Advance Auto Parts. “I think it takes a strong leadership to be able to acquire these things and I personally worked with these people.”

But it’s leadership that Salyers said is missing.

Salyers has been a member of council for six years, and is also the technology coordinator at the New Boston Local School District. On council, he’s been the chairman of the village Flood and Sewage Committee and a member of the Wage and Salary Committee. He said his military experience has given him valuable leadership skills the village needs.

“All of the departments of the village should be working as a well-oiled machine, and really there’s just too-much in-bickering between them, mainly due to a lack of leadership. The department chiefs are trying, but they don’t appear to be getting the support from the mayor that I think they should be as far as setting policy and being the leader. It’s just not there,” Salyers said.

He said he doesn’t think the current mayor is strong enough to handle serious issues of crime and drugs threatening the community.

“Another problem, I feel, is traffic. We have too many people running traffic lights and stop signs, and there is way too much speeding in this town. It’s just a small town, but people are blowing through the lights and somebody is going to get hurt one of these days,” Salyers said.

In other New Boston races this year, there are four village council seats open and five candidates running; they are New Boston Village Council incumbents Dan Fetty, William “Junior” Williams Jr., Jon Mills and Mike Payton, and newcomer Robert Law. New Boston Village Treasurer Kathy Bender and Village Clerk Lana Loper are also both running unopposed for re-election.

RYAN SCOTT OTTNEY can be reached at 740-353-3101, ext. 235, or rottney@heartlandpublications.com.