Tuesday night was no different, as he spent several hours in the courthouse rotunda.
But it wasn't quite the same, however.
Because Mohr decided not to run for re-election, he watched the proceedings as an outsider.
Richard Noel defeated Wilton Mault 280 votes to 254 and will replace Mohr.
Mohr said his wife asked him not to run for another term.
“Politics sometimes can be a little cruel to you and your family,” he said. “I'll miss it, without a doubt. I still want to be part of decision-making. I just can't hold a political office. I'd have to find someplace else to sleep.”
Mohr's nearly seven-year tenure had some controversial moments, such as when a local Web site accused him of having an extramarital affair.
He vehemently has denied the accusation on repeated occasions.
Mohr later got into a heated verbal exchange with former City Councilman Harald Daub after Mohr said some of those attending City Council meetings were “crap.”
City Council later fined Mohr $50 for the comment which sprung from affair accusation.
“Out of respect to my wife, my family and my kids, there's been a lot of nasty stuff said,” Mohr said. “My wife asked me (not to run) and I respect her wishes.”
But Mohr's time on the council wasn't all bad.
“Oh, we had some good times,” he said. “I'm hoping that my last four meetings are going to be extremely productive and that we'll make some decisions we need to make.”
Mohr said one of the accomplishments he's most proud of is that he and Mayor Jim Kalb negotiated a settlement with the Richard D. Marting Foundation to return the building and $1.4 million from the 2002 purchase of the former Marting's Department Store.
However, the city must have plans in place by March as to what to do with the building or the foundation will not return the money.
But Mohr said he hopes City Council presents plans to the foundation by the end of the year for its approval.
“It's (Marting's) an extremely sound building,” he said. “For getting a building that size and that location for probably $300,000, or maybe even less, would be a steal in anybody's eyes. We just need to go ahead and use it and make do of it.”
But some city officials, including Kalb and councilman Jerrold Albrecht, have said the 2004 referendum voters passed forbids the city from spending any money on the building.
But Mohr said that is not true.
“They really didn't vote it down,” he said. “They voted to repeal an ordinance that kept us from spending any more money with Tanner and Stone (architectural firm). So it really didn't have nothing to do with stopping the building or using the building. You just can't hate somebody that much not to use that building.”
Mohr was referring to the Marting Foundation as the object of the hate he referenced.
He said his biggest accomplishment in seven years was helping the city keep a balanced budget.
“Every year we've heard horror stories, even this year again, that it looks like we're going to be in the black,” Mohr said. “There's a lot of things we haven't done that we need to do and that we should do. But operating on 1985 tax dollars, it's hard to do that.”
Mohr also said the city needs more police officers. He said they could be used in the schools to educate students against drug usage.
“Because we can spend all the money we want to stop the drug dealers,” Mohr said. “But as long as there is a need and a want for drugs, you can never stop the influx. There will always be someone there to replace the dealer you take away. But if they're not using, the dealers ain't coming.”
One thing Mohr said he won't miss is the 5-minute period in which members of the public can address City Council on any topic they wish.
“That's not free speech on my account,” he said. “Every progressive city in the country has stopped that. It's not our job to listen to that. People don't realize, we're legislators. We're not problem solvers. We don't need to hear the name-calling and the bashing that we hear on a weekly basis.”
Mohr said he was hoping to have the public comment portion of City Council meetings banned before he leaves office. Since there probably is not enough time to do that, he said he hopes City Council eventually does away with the public comment portion.
Mohr also discussed the local newspaper, the Shawnee Sentinel.
He said he was at a local restaurant recently when people interested in doing business in the city read a copy of it.
“He said, ‘What's this all about,'” Mohr said. “So I butt in, and I said, ‘These guys are crazy.' I probably shouldn't say that. It's a shame that there are people that use a Constitutional right of free speech to the extreme that they do.”
JEFF BARRON can be reached at (740) 353-3101, ext. 236.
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