And now the 490 with Gretchen De Backer might kill him and Kevin Mullen.

Welcome to the 419, powered by GT and presented by Retro Wealth Management.

I'm Kevin Mullen, Debacker, and I kill him.

It is mayor Monday, my friends.

Another mayor Monday.

I know it's not the, you talk about the, from Sunday Scaries.

Right?

People are like, I don't they like, not looking forward to Monday.

Do you have mayor Monday?

Scaries.

No, no.

I get so excited for today.

Yeah.

Because it's you.

We've said this time and time again.

I think we say it every week.

But, like, you won't find somebody who loves their their village, their city, their community more than the person who is the glutton for punishment.

That is the mayor of that.

And we do find them, we should make everyone knows they don't like where they live.

That's right.

And so they can be gone.

I just can't I can't imagine, like, it's.

It is a thankless job.

It is a 24 seven.

Catch you at the grocery store and complain about my trash pick up on a job.

But they do it because they love the community.

They want to make it better.

And certainly that is, that's the case today.

We've got, mayor from Genoa.

Brant Houston's going to be with us.

And then also Thomas Berkman, who's the city administrator, village administrator.

But interestingly enough, also the former mayor of Genoa.

I will I think I'll tell you guys, I get stopped pretty regularly, to talk about the show.

And almost every other person likes Mayor Monday's segment the most.

This is going to be closer to the show.

I've lost some track of it, and this is like the dark horse when we putting the content together.

Mayor Mondays, I thought, was really a good idea, but people do love it.

And other mayors, are not certainly not critiquing, but are talking about.

We had the mayor of Perrysburg who had not met, and he was a long time listener of the show.

His words.

Yeah.

And he said, yeah.

So I talked to my fellow mayors about this.

So we'll see.

I think he's warning them.

That's right.

The torch will be carried over today.

I'm sure it's in good hands.

That might be true.

We had, we had Oregon on, we had Hank Fox from the Oregon Rec.

I've talked about my experience with my boys, playing baseball with Oregon Rec.

The detail that I left out is that now that they are in, tengu, they actually.

So while they play through the Oregon Rec, they actually play in the Genoa League.

And so it's a like, house travel league.

And I know, Brant has got some, some, some history with that league as well.

And so I'm sure we'll talk a little bit about kind of sports and youth development and all of those cool things that are pitching if you're going to leave right now and had to do, you know, what route would you take?

I have no idea.

Yeah, I do know it's an Ottawa County.

Yeah.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah, sure.

What's the next one?

Who's listening to us right now?

I don't know where anything is.

I just to get here every morning.

That's right.

Well, we're in Juneau right now.

Yeah.

But if you had to if you had to guess from our current location.

What direction?

North, south, east or west?

Yeah.

Left.

It is.

Yeah.

You're not wrong.

I mean, just give it to me like I'm not.

I'm not going to do this.

Yeah.

That's true.

Yeah.

I had a dollar on this particular line of questioning or the wholesale.

If I had a different time here that I would never work.

Do.

I want to just take a minute and talk about, obviously we've talked about the new app at Wjct.

Yeah.

People have not downloaded it.

Downloaded it.

They've got to check it out.

It's it's really cool.

A great way to catch our show, but also all of the great content straight out of it.

But also, if people have ideas for, the show, if they, you know, want to tell us how great we are.

Yeah.

Take it.

They can do all of that.

Shoot us an email for one nine at wget, dawg.

Just another great way to get in contact with us.

Let's take a break.

When we come back.

We dive into mayor Monday with the mayor of Genoa.

We'll be right back.

Welcome back into the 419.

It's mayor Monday, and we're taking a tour of the village of Genoa with Mayor Brant Houston.

Mayor, thank you so much for being here.

Oh, thank you guys for having me.

It's good to be here.

So if we could just start with educating Gretchen on, you know, it's not it's not Michigan.

So you have to use the back of your hand.

But where is Genoa?

I always tell people it's south and east of Toledo.

About 15, 20 minutes.

Right down there on 51 Woodville Road.

If you take that right down there, you'll run right into, Main Street in Genoa and, you know, nice little drive out and little scenic and, you know, we got some, some good places that maybe we'll talk about, you know, that, come visit.

And, Gretchen, what is your favorite state route?

If you had to rank them just for the 25 is my favorite.

Tell me about why.

Because it's really Central Avenue, I think.

Nope.

Sure isn't.

So there you go.

All right.

What got you into this line of work?

Why?

Why are you doing this yourself?

You grew up in Genoa.

I did grow up in general.

Is born and raised.

All right, tell me about that.

You know, grew up on, 11th Street in town.

You know, rode my bike to the park every day.

You know, it was in the 80s, so it's like, you know, mom said, come home.

We actually had a bell in our yard when they would ring the bell, and I would come home for dinner.

I mean, that was actual.

Yep.

What'd you folks do?

You did that?

Were they transplants?

Or so.

My dad, was born and raised in Genoa.

He he passed when I was very young, but they had the garbage business in town.

They did, like, when I was young.

And, that, you know, today is now they've been purchased and purchased.

But Stevens Disposal, who is now our garbage piece, was originally.

You're kidding me.

Was my, Yeah.

I mean, it was, you know, acquired and acquired again, but that was my interesting.

So Stevens started in some form in Genoa.

Well, they acquired part of what was then, you know.

All right, I'll take you.

And now that they we just changed our garbage contract to them.

Yeah, but I also recall that a little bit of nepotism there, if you.

But all right, so then how about mom?

My mom grew up in Fremont, and, she's, a lender.

I don't know if you know, if you know a thing about, sprint car racing 100%.

That's my mom's cousins and, you know, they they grew up, at a big, dairy farm out there.

That was, her aunt and uncle's and, Are you in car racing?

Me?

No.

So, like, so my my mom's dad passed away, like, one year and one day before I was born, so, like, I never got to know him.

Sure.

At all.

And, you know, while we were, you know, we do things with her family.

We were.

And we'd go to the races and stuff, but it was never, you know, like, yeah, plus those Fremont people.

Yeah, yeah.

You know, you got to be careful.

You got.

You so attended Genoa High School junior high school, graduated in 1998.

Went to college.

I kind of bounced around for a few years.

You know, the famous line is, you know, I went to school for nine years.

I think I was a doctor.

Yeah, that's what sounds familiar.

But, you know, got my degree in business administration.

Where'd you go for, eventually graduated from Owens with a, business degree from Owens.

And then I went to Tiffin University.

All right.

Graduated, from there.

You're a drag.

Siblings in your, nuclear family.

I am the one and only only child.

I do have two stepsisters that, you know, they don't.

I guess one lives in Bowling Green and the other lives in, Columbus.

Yeah, they weren't really a part of our lives, right?

Sure.

Did you play, any sports growing up?

Well, you said that you were, playing the park.

What was the.

What was your jam up there?

You know, baseball, basketball.

And I was a golfer.

And, that was not a big band.

My guess.

So when I was young, I had, a brain injury.

Okay.

And, you know, the the doctor I played in when I played football when I was little.

Sure.

But the my, you know, neurologist basically said you could play football, but I wouldn't recommend it.

So I was, like, a lot of risk.

Kevin, had the same prognosis, and he just kept playing, and this is what the results of that is.

Hey, we're on the same desk right here.

It just fine.

It's funny you say it, but it's actually, true.

When I, when I was in college, I had, like, multiple concussions in a row, and I'm like, yeah, you're you're done with, like, I'm not play basketball anymore.

These guys were just talking the other day when we met about how they still attempt is which is it?

Which is a characteristic of their age where they try to still play sports and they are like rolling ankles and breaking breaking pinkies and jamming there.

At what point did you really.

First of all, we didn't need no one's had pinkies.

Yeah, I think, I think I think I said, at what point did you realize that, like when you play basketball, it is officially old man basketball.

I was for, probably after I got married, you know, like 20, mid 20s, you know, it's like, and then when, you know, when my friends started having kids, it's like, you know, it's this is not what I remember.

That's right.

Right.

Yeah.

I remember this being fun.

So.

Yeah, you know, I get a degree in, in business.

Business administration.

What was the what did you always think that you were going to get involved in politics?

Sonia.

Not a chance.

I mean, so I always call this is my second job.

This is what I tell people like my day job is I am a, banking center manager for, West Bank Banco, in Genoa.

So if you come down wood River road or right on the corner of the big building, there, you know, that's a my day job.

That's the job that pays the bills.

You know, being a mayor is kind of a part time job for us.

And, Yeah.

Well, long story short, is, you know, they needed some help, council, they had some guys that were leaving.

There was kind of a, I don't say a financial crisis, but they were having some issues with the finances for the village in Genoa.

My godfather was on the council at the time, and he's like, hey, you know, we really need somebody with a financial background.

Would you be willing to, you know, come on to council and you know, help with the finance department?

So that's what I, that's how I originally got on is, you know, I was just a member of council.

It couldn't have been just as easy as that, right.

Well, I mean, talk to me a little bit about sitting down and making this commitment.

Were you around the kitchen table saying, is this something I want to sign onto?

Yeah.

You know, so I, you know, I talked to my wife and yeah, you know, she'll tell you that I probably just made the decision on my own with what she's coming on next.

So I hope that, you know, you know, we did talk about it a little bit.

And, you know, at that point it was just say you're on council, you go to two meetings a month.

You know, no big deal.

You know, it's like, you know, help out.

And I did that for it.

So I was actually appointed, and then I had to run for reelection, you know, two years later, I think.

And I won reelection.

You seem like a quiet person.

The campaigning.

Is that something that was just excruciating for you?

So not for the.

But, like when I became area.

That was a pain in my butt.

Yeah, yeah, it's something that, you do have great hair that has to help, right?

Apparently.

But.

Yeah.

And, you know, you know, it doesn't hurt working, you know, working at a bank, you know, having kids in the community, you know, I know we talked about it later, but, you know, being a coach in the community.

Yeah, like, I knew a ton of people, right?

But, you know, going door to door knocking and saying, hey, you know, these are my priorities.

Yeah.

This is what we're looking at doing.

And I was like, you know, I'm not there's no, no hidden agenda.

No.

You know, you know, all we want to do is make the village a better place to live.

You know, maybe try to, you know, reduce taxes a little bit.

You know, make it easier on on people.

And, you know, people want to live in Genoa for, you know, it's a nice suburban community as it is.

And, you know, house goes for sale.

I mean, it's it's gone.

Yeah.

What was the what after you got that appointment on council, what was the thing that made you think, I'm going to run?

I'm going to I'm going to retain the seat.

Why did you want to keep doing it?

Because you can see progress.

Yeah.

You know, the governmental financing is weird to begin with.

It's an understatement, but, you guys probably know.

Yes, I do.

Yeah, I'll be leaving here and going to it.

Yeah.

But, you know, technically, we were we were we were negative in our general fund.

Gretchen.

And that's not good.

No, that's not good.

And that was, 2016, I think is when I first went on, you know, now, ten years later, I mean, we are you know, ten times, you know, where we were before.

Not in the, not in the, in the rear.

Yeah.

The math works for you, but.

Yeah, but, you know, just doing different things, you know, cutting where we could cut a little bit.

Everybody tightening their belt, And, you know, finding new sources of revenue.

You know about that?

I mean, that's a that I'm aware when you say find new source of revenue, what does that look like?

Development is is a phrase that everyone talks about in almost any capacity.

But building it.

Yes.

So we're not quite to that portion yet.

But like the big thing that we did is, you know, the village is, you know, has an income tax.

We were doing that on our own.

We actually partnered with, Rita, which a lot of smaller communities do around here.

And, you know, we they are able to locate people who should have been paying taxes and you and may not have been over the years.

And, you know, it was over $100,000.

Yeah.

Real money that they found that, you know, we were not missing out on.

Right.

And, you know, that's that was huge.

And, you know, we manipulated some fun, you know, like when we get the income tax, you know, X number of dollars was going to the general fund, X number of dollars was going to, improvements and stuff.

You know, we kind of manipulated those numbers a little bit.

So more was going towards the general fund.

You know, but we moved them around.

Makes a lot of sense to me.

I do have to ask a question to me.

You've worked 5 to 6 days a week, at a bank, and a community bank?

Yes.

How how difficult is it to manage what hat you're wearing at said location?

Because people have to come in and check.

They can say, well, I'm here.

I'd also like to talk a little bit about the potholes or, my kid, is Rick experienced this.

How do you politely.

Because you certainly, charming guy.

How do you vacillate back and forth or what is the boundary that you articulate?

Yeah.

Must be hard.

It is hard because if you care.

Yeah, exactly.

I would say if it's, it's a it's a quick response, you know.

Yeah.

Well, I'll say, you know, hey, you know, your balance in your checking account is this.

And hey, you know, we're going to work on getting those things shut your mouth is going to be a lot less, but if it's a if it's a more in-depth thing, you know, I was like, you know, hey, we really need to talk about this after hours.

You know, I was like, give me your phone number.

I'll give myself number.

And our table.

We need to talk for hours.

I always the right people to come to a meeting because, you know, that's that's where the real action happens.

Is at a at a council meeting.

You know, I can relay a message, you know, from a customer or, you know, a resident.

But it's different coming from the source, you know, really.

And, and, you know, unfortunately or fortunately, Adam, you know, not many people come to a council meeting unless, you know, they're upset.

Awesome.

Yeah, yeah.

Can you tell us a little bit about you referred to it as a village a number of times.

Tell us a little bit about the difference in a village, in a city.

And it's a corporation.

And also just the overview of the city.

You have a city manager.

It's not a strong mayor form of government.

How many council members, that kind of stuff.

So, you know, right now, according to the essence, we're about 2300, residents in the village and know and, you know, I think the the designation goes by population.

So and I'm not 100% sure what the actual number it is, but maybe over 5000 is considered a town.

And then you're a city and, you know, I don't know if those numbers are, but that's that's how we do it.

We do have six council members.

I really hate the most.

Kidding.

I just to get everyone in for who they don't, you know.

Oh, yeah.

No, actually, I think that's probably the best thing about why we're making some progress is you know, is, you know, we got, you know, people from all different walks of life.

But, you know, we all are here, I want to say agreeable, but we all get along.

We do have different, you know, opinions on different things, but we all get along.

We respect each other.

And, you know, the ultimate goal is, is we want to move the village forward.

Yeah.

What was the the organizational structure.

Yeah.

How many employees has it?

But what's the the org chart look like?

So, we're in charge of police department.

We have, chief, three full time, police officers, and then maybe 3 or 4 part timers.

We have a public works department.

That is probably the one of the biggest things about, you know, a village of our size or any town of our size is, you know, we we're in charge of, our water, electric and sewer.

And I think there's probably 7 or 8 guys in, in that department, so that's, and then we have, billing clerk, secretary, fiscal officer and our, village administrator.

Okay.

And, the village administrator, basically handles day to day stuff.

Yeah.

And, you know, I say basically he does quite a bit, I can feel him glaring out right now.

And we're very fortunate to have, the staff that we do between the village administrator, our fiscal officer, and our billing clerk there because, you know, our billing clerk has been there like 20 years and she knows everybody in town.

Our fiscal officer has many years of of, experience in the, in the public sector.

And, you know, she's been a whiz dealing with, you know, everything on that.

And, how do you, how do you feel like you work with your.

With who?

I'm sure your friends at Ottawa County and, and other mayors in the region, what kind of things do you do to engage in those relationships?

Commiserate with one another?

You know, we always different local mayors, we always see, you know, different functions around town.

You know, the, the big partners that we're working with now is the Ottawa County Improvement Corporation or CIC.

You know, we do have or we are trying to bring in some new business to the village of Genoa.

You know, for, you know, tax revenue and whatnot.

But, you know, they've been a good partner of ours.

The, our county parks district has been very huge for us to, we've done some major renovations at the the park in Genoa and over the last five years, and it's it's been huge.

You know, Ottawa County commissioners are working with us, a lot of, a lot of different entities around in Ottawa County that you have a long tradition of successful high school football.

Yes.

And then there was no, no shortage of that this year.

Is a Friday night a football night?

Did you go to the game?

Oh, yeah.

So.

All right, my son plays, my daughter's a cheerleader.

Okay.

What position does your son play?

He was the nose tackle this past year.

Well, they're they're twins.

The boy and girl twins, and, they're juniors this year, so they have one more year.

But, yeah, we, lost the empty nester.

Yeah.

Well, that's a mixed bag, depending on who you ask.

Yeah, yeah, we're trying to get them, you know?

You know.

Hey, what are you going to do for college?

I don't know, you know, what do you want to do for me?

I don't know, and you're, like, packing their stuff up for them.

And my wife's like, you guys can start our calendar.

It's like, it's like, no, they they need to figure something out.

Yeah.

But other great kids and, Yeah, I'm sure.

Yeah, yeah.

So the school had a very, very successful year so far between football and basketball team and, you know, hopefully, wrestling team, cross-country, they all won.

All won the league.

That's great.

Yeah, a lot of it's a great, couple of years here that.

Yeah, very and a great tradition.

We're talking with Brant Houston, the mayor of the village of Juneau.

But we're going to take a break.

When we come back, we'll talk about the future of Genoa.

What his plans are, what he ran on, and and, maybe we'll get a little great card.

See how how he's doing so far.

We'll take a break.

We'll be right back on the 419.

Welcome back into the 419.

It's Mayor Monday and we're talking with Brant Houston the mayor of the village of Genoa.

As if you're out traveling the country and you're telling somebody it comes up that, you're the mayor of Genoa.

How do you describe Genoa to somebody that's not from northwest Ohio?

I would just say it's, a very peaceful, quiet suburban community.

It's, Yeah.

Great place to raise a family.

And, Yeah, those are the things that come to mind first, I guess we talked about economic development.

I mean, what does what does industry look like in, in Genoa?

Do you guys have, you know, big businesses, industrial?

Not a lot.

I mean, we do have, you know, we do have a, a couple different things.

Bowman auto Group has a Ford and a Chevy store in our town.

You know, we do have Riverside machine, which is a two on day machining shop, in town, but probably the most, recognizable, place that we have is, shampoo, which is, ceramic or plates and stuff.

Absolutely.

You know, the, claim to fame is they, they made an an That was the topper at the white House during the Clinton administration about that.

So I was, but, you know, people come from all over to go to this particular shop, very small.

You won't even know it's there if you didn't know it was there.

But, you know, a couple other things that we have in town is, we have, the grotto at our Lady of Lourdes Church, which is, you know, very, you know, recognizable.

And, we also our, claim to fame is we have, the privy, which is, one of the oldest indoor bathrooms in this in the country, I believe.

You see the pretty said bathroom?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

It's on.

And you may have to talk to, Mr.

Bergman about this a little bit more, but it's it's, it's awesome that that segment.

Was it going to be exclusively about bathrooms?

But it's it's on the National Register of Historic Places.

And it's a, that was one of the first indoor bathrooms, isn't that is it.

Used it.

Yeah.

No, I, I've never been in there and it's, it's an a building that's never it's, actually, it's a building that's.

I don't even know how we would get there.

It's kind of, private property, but so was it in someone's private home, or is it in, like, a commercial building?

There was.

Well, there's a former elementary school in town, okay.

And somebody has bought that and renovated it.

And they actually lived there.

So I'm not exactly.

It's on that property.

I need to go there and it's.

Well, we can ask Thomas about his house when he comes on, but it's, you know, claim to fame.

You know what?

You what are you famous for?

That's, That's the kind of stuff.

That's one more time.

It is the oldest public bathroom in the United, no less.

Indoor.

Indoor.

It was in do you may have to, you know, talk to the expert on that.

Yeah.

So you got you mentioned coaching.

Yes.

I said in the intro that I've got some experience with the Genoa rec league.

You guys have got an incredible thing going on there.

And there's a lot of, communities across northwest Ohio that all participate in that league.

I understand you've you've had, some leadership roles with that group as well.

Yeah.

So I started there when I was 19 years old and as a, as a coach, my, my friend of mine, his brother needed, a coach's team.

And, you know, I stuck with it the whole time until my kids got there.

And I coached my kids all the way through.

And now they, have, moved on.

I'm actually the treasurer of the league.

I've been the treasurer for probably 10 or 15 years and, you know, kind of run the buying the uniforms and the equipment and, and then, you know, concession stand stuff.

But yeah, it's, it's been a wild ride.

And, you know, a lot of communities around, you know, they don't, you know, they don't have a home for their kids to play ball.

This is all sports.

This is just baseball right now.

You know, my goal is some point, you know, maybe, you know, to make it more.

But right now, it's just baseball.

And so we're kind of incorporating softball as well.

But yeah, these communities, they don't have a place to go.

And like, all the these leagues were, were folding and, you know, like, hey, would you consider coming and coming here?

And you're like, well, you know, Mr.

Mayor, you mentioned this a little bit, but, what I mean, you're the treasurer of this, you ran you were on council.

Where does this, I mean, you could just go to the games, right.

Or drop your kids off, or have been appointed and let that go by.

Where does the pull to give back?

Is it come?

Is that from your mom?

Is that something you think you have in the molecular level?

You could just attend and be a good neighbor.

Okay.

Why take the next.

Well, I take the step up here.

It's probably.

It's probably for my mom and my stepdad.

You know, my mom was a schoolteacher.

My stepdad worked at, they especially in here, and, but I know that, you know, we'd go to church every Sunday.

They would volunteer doing different things at church.

You know, for for me, you know, the opportunities came and other aspects.

And, to the nine colleges you went to, if I met a lot of people do.

That's right across the United States.

But, but yeah, I think the started there.

And, you know, it's when you have a passion for something.

Yeah.

You know, I mentioned earlier, my, my dad passed away when I was young.

And, like, one of the things that I always remember from him is, like, my mom had, like, newspaper clippings of him playing baseball when he was little.

And, was he a big star?

I mean, back in the day.

And, and they had the Little League scores posted in the newspaper.

So in the US, like Houston's homer wins game.

And that's that's the thing I always remember.

And it's like, you know, I always want to be a part of that.

Sure.

Like when I started playing baseball, the diamond won in general of the Thomas Field, had my last name carved in.

It was a wooden fence, and it was carved into the fence.

And now they replaced the shortly after I started, but I do.

That's one of the things I remember as a five, six year old kid that, absolutely.

Well, I'd be out there in like two weeks, so I'll carve it back in.

It's a metal fence now, so I have a spray painting.

I'll work a little harder if you, What what wakes up?

The mayor of the village of Juneau in the middle of the night.

What's the what's the thing that worries you?

Just how we're going to proceed into the future.

You know, it's, you know, we just talking on the way here, you know, the taxes have been raised.

You know, everybody's worried about, you know, water rates, electric rates, or, you know, what can we do in order to offset that for customers?

You know, our our residents, you know, I talked to in my day job, I talked to a guy the other day that he's having issues making his house payment because his taxes went up so much, and he came to me, you know, what can I do to get assistance?

And, you know, gave him some ideas of where he could go, what organizations he can talk to.

But, you know, that's that's a, that's a real thing.

Like, you know, hey, I can make my house payment, but, you know, paying for the other stuff is different.

And, you know, the debates out there, you know, you eliminate property tax, had this conversation with somebody else, you know, like if you eliminate property tax, how else are we going to get that money to, to fund those different things that we need to do?

It's so it's a double edged sword like, darn, if you do that, then, you know, it's like, how how are we going to do this?

And you see it on, you know, some of our neighboring, communities, you know, you know, look over Lake Township, you know, for solar is, is a very big for them.

It's, you know, what, what kind of industry could we bring to Genoa.

That, you know, wouldn't be detrimental to the community, the culture and increase the tax and benefit them.

Right.

Do you guys have the land.

We do, we do have some land that has been available.

You know, a couple of years ago, I think maybe two years ago, I was, I was on fleet 11 news and they just, we had 223 acres that, a gentleman, put into the village, and it was made marketable, you know, and, you know, so there's been some opportunities, that lunatic that owns the bathroom, is it?

No, no.

Right.

That, I think that's a real maverick or she, I guess.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Although that does not sound like something a woman would do.

It sounds like a again, what an idiot man would do.

I we cut you off on the break, but it is one of my favorite parts of Mayor Mondays.

Walk me through the perfect day in Genoa, where you get up, you do this, you go where, where where do you eat?

Where do you walk me through?

You mentioned Main Street.

Been to, you know, a many times.

But if I've never been there before, and I was coming in for a day.

Walk us through sunup to sundown.

So I think that, you you'd probably come in and, go to Art cafe for breakfast.

Yeah, right.

The, you know, a little breakfast spot in town, and that's what they're known for.

They do.

They're open.

You know, I think longer than that.

But, the breakfast spot, that's the breakfast place to be.

Yeah.

You know, and I think then, you know, you go over to the park, we have, a brand new pickleball courts, brand new basketball court, pickleball, just batting it back and forth, and I haven't I haven't really got into it yet.

It is more fun than I was anticipating.

Okay.

Well, I, I really want to do it because it's a good way to exercise.

And, you know, we have these I mean, they're brand new courts.

People are crazy about this.

I know it's a it's something, and then we have, you know, for your, your biking and walking enthusiasts, the we're the, we're the head of the North Coast Inland Trail right now.

Like the it stops right at our park.

You know, we we got we have plans to weave it through town and headed towards Millbury, but right now, or if you start or finish, you're finishing in or starting in June or.

Yep.

So I mean, we see a lot of bikers, you know, like I'm not they're not professional, but they're avid bikers.

They come in.

Plus they get to just for, you know, the kids and everybody in town.

It's it's a it's a great thing too.

Yes.

It is.

You have the, the quarry, here in town and, you know, you get a lot of, swimming during the day and fishing.

Yeah.

You know, lots of different things to do.

You know, a couple, places to go at night.

You know, we have Race Cafe, which, you know, downtown and, we recently, had, casino Dicarlo's opened a restaurant in Genoa, and, that's been a big hit.

A lot of people, what do you get in race?

Usually for me, I get the loaded balls, okay?

I mean, just pile all that crap on there.

Yeah, sure.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

It's, Yeah, it sounds perfect.

If if money and timeline and budget and politics were no issue.

What's the dream?

What?

What's that?

Yeah.

What's the what's the dream project?

What's the what's the thing that you would have dropped in Genoa?

Oh, man.

Like, what would we have dropped in like, I don't know, we, you know.

Oh, we joked that, you know, if we could get, you know, some type of, of business revenue, you know, from, you know, whoever, you know, maybe we would, you know, pave the streets and goal, you know, that's.

Yeah, I like it.

That's, called the Genoa.

That's right.

But that's, that's a far off, dream, I guess.

You know, the the main thing is, you know, make sure we have working infrastructure.

We've, we've experience a lot of water leaks this past few years.

Come to find out that our, you know, our water system was put in in the 20s or 30.

That's right.

So a lot of that needs updated.

You know, we recently, redid some of our, sewer pump stations because we provide sewer to, you know, so in the outlying areas and, you know, we have 3 or 4 pump stations.

And when, you know, they all go bad at the same time, of course they do.

But, we were just replace all those.

So it's things like that is, you know, making sure that we have the infrastructure to take general into the 21st century.

For the last decade plus, any time a shovel broke ground in Oregon, the community says it's an olive garden.

Right.

And and it isn't.

It never has been.

Is there anything like that in Genoa that anytime there's any, any project, the rumor mill runs wild and we're finally getting.

Yeah.

It's, So, you know, we had a Rite Aid in town, rite aid.

It's close, and it's, it's it's catty corner from my office.

And, you know, anytime there's a there's a vehicle in that parking lot, they're like, oh, I heard it's going to be this or it's going to have everybody.

Everybody wants a restaurant.

Yeah, we got the restaurant, you know, and Casino De Carlo say, you know, came in and but you know, everybody wants something different or something better.

You know, we're trying to, you know, work with a couple of different companies, the, you know, maybe purchase that property or maybe build something different.

But, it's tough.

Yes.

But yeah, you know, and then this is working at the, at the bank, you know, the, the corner there at 51 and Main Street.

You know, there was, somebody put on the talk of Genoa, which is, you know, the rumor mill here.

Sure.

What a helpful mechanism they're going to put.

They're gonna put a roundabout there.

Yeah.

Oh, I'm like, people love that.

That's not happening.

But like, people are still like they come and ask me about that.

I'm like, oh, what are they?

The rumor.

Right?

Right.

All right.

It's now time for Gretchen's wacky quiz.

She loves this name.

I'm going to ask for rapid fire questions.

Gretchen's going to ask you to describe Genoa in exactly one word.

And then you and Matt are going to list out the nine best things in or about Genoa.

Okay.

So, all right, here we go.

If you could be any age, what age would you be?

I would be 18 again.

Yeah.

What historical event from the past do you think is a conspiracy?

Oh, great one.

Oh, my.

It's about the toilet.

Yeah.

And that's a. You don't want to admit it.

You know, I like I don't read it down.

Like, what would it be like, the moon landing.

Yeah.

Apparently there's pictures that says that they saw the stuff that they left there.

Oh, man.

Let's get past that.

It's a term.

That's karaoke.

You got a karaoke in front of a group.

What song you singing?

I think that it would be, It would be like Matchbox 20 or blind or something, you know, from rock from your era.

Yeah, I like it.

This says amongst your friends, but I'm going to put this to work right amongst the village employees.

Who is the most likely to become a stand up comedian?

Oh, it's probably Mike Thomas, you know, that's all, he's very dry and very, but he always comes up with some one liners and some things that may be inappropriate.

Sometimes it gets everybody got a few warnings.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So okay.

What is the one word you would use to describe, your beloved Genoa?

I would say like, tranquil.

Love it.

Great word.

Okay.

All right, man, I like it.

We're going to do nine words that describe are the nine favorite things about Genoa or the area.

Okay, let's do a fire away.

So number one would be the, the park parts.

Love it.

And this is rapid fire.

It's our mystery.

That's your degree.

But, you know, we'll go, race cafe.

Race cafe.

You better say the new one, because, you know, they can't.

There you go.

All right.

Both, great places to be.

I would say, you know, Genoa High School.

It's, you know.

Absolutely.

It's a great place.

What's the mascot comments?

Yeah, yeah.

Comment for giving you another one for that.

Keep going.

Comments.

See we'll go champu.

Yeah.

We'll give you two for that now.

Give you some brownie points on the homestead.

What's your wife's name?

Brady and your two kids, Seth and Senior.

That's okay.

So those are the nine best things in Genoa.

You got it, buddy.

I love it, mayor.

Thank you so much.

Problem?

We're gonna take a break.

When we come back, we will have Thomas Bergman, who is not only the village administrator, but also a former mayor.

And so we'll talk about what his role is and get a little more look into the village of Genoa here on a mayor Monday on the 419.

We'll be right back.

welcome back into the 419.

It's Mayor Monday and a rare double dose of mayor Monday.

As we're joined now by the village administrator of Genoa.

But also former mayor.

Do you require, Mayor Houston to call you Mayor Berkman in the office?

No, no, no, I prefer not to.

Yeah, yeah.

And that's all the residents?

Yeah.

You just run your hands up some still, do you, Mr.

Mayor?

And I go, yeah, yeah, it's it's a little bit about that.

About that.

What happened there?

You were you were the mayor just prior to, Mayor Houston.

Yes.

Correct.

Yeah.

I was elected in 2019 is, 29 years old, and I took office January of 2020, and nothing went wrong.

Nothing.

Right?

Right.

Yeah.

Nothing wrong in the year 2020.

No.

Yeah.

Smooth sailing.

That's right.

Yeah.

Right.

Yeah.

My my administrator at the time was my predecessor.

He had to go out for a surgery and, Yeah.

So just make sure they vote yes.

I'll be back in two weeks.

Yeah.

Nothing.

You know, just make sure they vote.

Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Right, right.

And then by the time that he came back, they'll run.

It all changed.

Yeah.

Just so I kind of, you know, trial by fire there.

So I learned a whole bunch as mayor and that that gentleman the entire time, I would say he knew, when he was going to retire and he said, you know, by the way, you have to take my job.

My job.

I went to school for city planning at Ohio State.

Oh, okay.

So he had to say no for three years.

For three years.

And we interviewed some candidates.

And honestly, the best candidate was my college roommate, who was a project manager at an engineering firm here in Toledo.

And, just kind of, said, you know, I could you're never going to have another opportunity to take this job.

You could always if you didn't work out, you could go to someone else.

But okay, let's do it.

And, so I called up my former college roommate and said, hey, sorry.

You know, I'm going to do it.

Yeah, right.

And also, I have your mini fridge.

You come over, right?

Yeah.

That's the situation because your predecessor was stepping down that you got appointed to the.

Yeah, he was retiring.

Okay.

And, so, when I finally said, okay, I'll try it.

I mean, he was just harping me, but honestly, for, you know, three years there and, so we he went and talked to council and said, hey, you know what?

You guys be up for this?

And they said, yes.

And, so I, I resigned and I was appointed and the rest is history.

And so did the global pandemic play into the fact that you didn't want to actually run for another term.

Right.

Right.

Now, that was tough because, you know, people didn't really know me so much.

I did not go to general school, so I didn't join my whole life, but I, I went to, like my valley and then Saint Francis and Cardinal Stritch and, so, like, I knew people, but not all that.

Well, yeah.

So the, you know, what was it ten weeks into your mayor term?

The economy shuts down.

You can't, you know, we didn't have a festival, the summer festival, like homecoming.

I was like my opportunity to go meet people as the mayor was kind of hamstrung.

Right.

So that everything was on Facebook.

Yeah.

Which was, We don't even have time to talk about that.

Are you suggesting a shutdown is not the best way to meet your constituents?

Yeah.

Correct or not?

Yeah.

Yeah, that's, you know, shut down the park.

Yeah.

I don't write that down.

I don't know how many times I said, you know, I need to talk to governor DeWine about this.

Yeah.

I don't know what to tell you.

We're still waiting for those press conferences.

Right.

Berkman, the village administrator in Genoa.

What exactly is the role of the village administrator?

That's interesting.

You know, I used to describe we'll be the judge of.

It's just confusing.

It's confusing.

And that's why I describe to people is, you know, imagine going from mayor to ministry.

It's like going from, like, President of the school board to superintendent, like, I think that's something people are more familiar with of like, yes, the school board is in charge and of the bosses, but the superintendent is running the day to day and giving strategy advice.

And it's they're, they're full time gig.

So that's how I describe it to people.

You know, I used to describe the mayor you had mentioned with Brandt.

You know, it's called a weak mayor system, which is kind of a insulting term, but that's what it is.

You.

I'd say that Gretchen.

Right?

Yeah.

You.

Yeah.

You break ties, and you're the ceremonial figurehead.

And I used to describe it as being the vice president and the Pope at the same time, which, given recent news stories, is kind of funny.

Right?

Right.

And it's going great.

Right?

Right, right.

But no, I, I, you know, the way I look at it is the projects have to get done.

You have to be in compliance with your water, your sewer, etc.

we can either, raise your taxes and or raise rates, or we can be very, very aggressive about going after grants and whatnot to double or triple your spending power.

So that's something I take a lot of pride in.

Yeah.

I think we ought to be pushing 10 million in grants we probably borrow.

That's amazing.

Right.

And it's, you know, again, the project has to get done.

Yeah.

That's right.

State, federal.

Pardon me.

Okay.

I'll take anybody's mind.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, sure.

Yeah.

You name it.

Yeah.

It's like you run on that platform pretty much.

Yeah.

That's right.

Yeah.

See, Ohio State educated city planner.

What drives you nuts about the the layout of the city of Genoa?

Oh, I could fix it.

No, I, I would take the opposite view.

You know, I, I would when I went door to door, you know, I'd advocate.

Hey, you know, it's a great place to raise a family because of our layout.

It's still a it's a 19th century grid system which is walkable and bikeable.

And that has become back.

That's come back in a big way the last 20 years.

So I always tell people that thanks to your aggressive pandemic.

Right, right.

Right, right.

Yeah.

I feel really good.

That's take it like you wouldn't breathe.

Yeah, yeah.

That's right.

We wouldn't even had the pandemic.

And I don't say that all the time.

Yeah.

All I did was increase sidewalk complaints.

That's right.

Well the coach of the year to that is such a funny thing I, I worked for the park system during my day job.

That is, a lot of complaints all of a sudden about the playgrounds.

I was like, excellent.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well, rush, right.

I thought our playground was in dire shape and we built a new one and it because of that.

Yeah.

For sure.

You know, honestly, taking a year off for Covid, I did a lot of soul searching and we were able to fix our finances and find a reset thing.

So there was there was some silver lining to it.

I, we felt the same way.

It it did highlight also some components from the Metroparks that, or at least a delta or gap of services programing that we were not providing, social things for seniors to do.

And, mental and mindful programing as well, we need to is an equalizer.

And certainly we all know has some health components to it.

But that's really highlighted the fact that we should do more of it.

But let me ask you, as a Genoa resident, and went away to school, what set you on this course?

I mean, that you could have moved, I guess, from Ohio State to anywhere for sure.

Back to your hometown.

You know, I it's well, you talk about motivation, the intrinsic motivations.

You need a therapist, probably, you know, figure that out.

But that's not this job, right?

Right.

So my name is Thomas.

I'm never actually named after my grandmother who went by Tommy.

Her maiden name was Thompson.

Her first name was Agnes.

If your name was Agnes, you'd probably switch, too.

Yeah.

So, yeah, she went by Tommy, and she was a great community organizer for decades and decades and never held elected office.

They didn't have an administrator back then, but brought in millions of dollars of grants.

And I grew up hearing those stories.

My parents were both very involved civically, whether it was just being on the tree commission always, you know, willing, whatever they do.

My father owned a paving business, in town.

He passed away when I was, ten.

My mother was a, she was teacher at the school at general schools.

But, like, again, if there was an opportunity to volunteer, she'd have been there, 100%.

So you I grew up in that.

So when I went to our state and I can remember vividly the, professors saying, hey, if you like being at the intersection of architecture and public policy and dealing with the public and and the, insanity of zoning codes, this is the place for you.

And I was immediately like, this was a AA meeting.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Where is this conversation held?

So I came back after after college and I was working for said paving company, operating a shovel and, it's not as much fun as it sounds.

Yeah, and, I ended up running for mayor and and went and kind of went from there.

But what I think what I like about, you know, living in a small town is you either enjoy knowing your neighbors or you don't.

I mean, and your neighbors knowing you.

Yeah.

And, well, I would tell people when I was going door to door, it's like, I don't know who's who.

I don't know who kissed him on the playground 30 years ago and all that.

But, you know, I just I've started to that.

Right?

Yeah, that's what I'd say.

So I'm just here to improve the town.

But, you know, I'm going to quote, you know, Dave Chappelle here.

We're expecting that, he lives in Yellow Springs, and David Letterman had come to visit him and said you could live anywhere in the world, but you live here.

He had a great point about, you know, when you live in a small town, everyone's a celebrity.

Yeah.

So I don't stick out.

There's not truth to that.

I mean, the same guy has been cut my hair since I was 12.

Yeah.

And, and and what caused that guy's blindness?

I mean, you're in such an interesting role as former mayor.

Village administrator, right?

Normally when you sell, you know, you sell your first home, you move out, you know, at least for me, is that when I drive by it, I get annoyed at what the the new owners have done with it.

I was doing, but I was.

Kevin, thanks for bringing that up.

You're welcome.

But but I'm not still living in that house.

You're right.

That's right, you are.

I mean, yeah.

What has been some of the challenges and how do both you and Mayor Houston sort of, you know, navigate, the reality of like, you know, co-parenting.

Yeah.

Because he's a monster, obviously, you know, and it's like, oh, cool and brand within phases.

Brand.

I guess, because I, I'm a worrier by nature.

Yeah.

So, he's the optimist and the pessimist.

And so I'll attack a problem of, oh, my gosh, we got to do something about this cat.

I wish they had him on second.

Right, right.

I've been a lot better.

So charming.

And now we've got, you know, for sure.

For sure.

Even doing it right.

Exactly.

I more like, how are we gonna pay for that?

Yeah, that's that's, But, you know, it takes it takes a team to.

Yeah.

There are any number of examples of small towns where mayors and council or mayor or administrators aren't on the same page or working together.

And how helpful to the the.

Well, there is when I would hear a story before our time of, of, you know, this person would vote against this person's idea regardless of it made sense or not.

Just just that just sticks it to them.

It goes back to the playground story.

That's right.

What happened?

I, I don't care.

That's right.

We're here to build a new playground.

Or $10 million of water pipes would be cool.

Or do you just add that to the sewer?

And, so to be on the same page has been, refreshing.

Does anyone speak openly and, hey, here's an idea.

And, so that's been you can trust him.

He's coming for you.

I don't mean to.

Positively.

Right.

Right.

Exactly.

That's like an old improv thing is you trust your partner.

You know, they're going to come for you if you give them 100%, hundred percent.

So, yeah, you know, Brant kind of underscored there.

We you know, we were -150 grand in the hole.

That was ten years ago.

So we've we've come a long way.

And, and again, it's not only when you fix your operation that gives you seed money to go after these grants, and then it's it's really just exponential.

That's right.

Speaking of growth, I let the mayor down.

And I hate to put you on the spot, but, you know, the need to bail me out here.

Sure.

There is a big celebration in Genoa that even I have heard about.

It is the homecoming celebration.

Is May 30th.

I know that there is a 250th celebration that is just to be ramped up.

Tell me about it.

Yeah, so that's the Juneau Homecoming Festival.

I always make sure to say festival because I people think you talk about it's my show.

Yeah.

No.

Right.

So, if people say, what do you k for homecoming this year, they look at you sideways.

Yeah, it's all going festival.

Yeah.

So Kevin still goes to homecoming every year.

Exactly I do, yeah.

So I think Gibson Berg also there's called Homecoming Festival and I believe that they talked about Gibson.

No, no not this time.

Yeah.

All right, all right.

So that's, I believe it comes from, veterans coming back from World War two.

So they've been doing this for, 70 or 80 years.

And yeah, growing up, I just care about, like, the elephant ears and all the, like, the carnival food.

So, wonderful.

Time to see the neighbors, in the beer tent and really let the truth out.

And, we always have a big fireworks show, so, we're we're we kind of, you know, what are we gonna do for the two 50th?

And it's America.

Let's set up some fireworks.

So the homecoming committee, I think, is, going to increase the display party 50%.

So it'll be will be like 30 grand with the fireworks.

That's the way it's going to be.

It's gonna be a big deal.

It's always a big show.

And last year was a record, but we said, let's put on steroids and, yeah, you know, it's America fun.

So we're we're really, really looking forward to that.

I think, sometime in May or we're gonna start marketing that off.

It'll be.

Yeah.

I don't know what the Perrysburg to Toledo spend on there were.

But this will be the biggest one.

And that's awesome that our neck of the woods.

Yeah, sure.

Yeah.

Where does it where does it take place?

In the park.

Okay.

Yeah, yeah.

You can't, can't miss it.

Yeah.

We got, we brought a new ride event, and when I say we, it's the homecoming, committee.

Right.

But they brought out a new, ride vendor.

That's been terrific.

Numbers have been, setting records.

So, it's gonna be great.

We do a parade, on Friday.

That brings in, I think, 5 or 10,000 people really shoulder to shoulder there on Main Street.

And it's that it's that cool.

It's, you know, Americana.

Yeah.

Right.

You know, let me tell you, this is we promise you, we wouldn't put you on the spot.

But we're going to, ear or funnel kick off an ear all day.

Good lord.

Get this, get this guy off this.

Clearly a funnel cake.

So what is the difference?

Oh, it tastes good here.

I mean, but, like, legitimately, what is the difference?

Matt, somebody explain this to me.

Look, if you're even asking, it's not worth my time.

I mean, I the word, you know, is on a map, but I just of the difference.

So today.

Okay, so you're this is like the event diagram over there.

I'm done.

I'm done with this.

There's a there's there's all these.

Look, I'm changing the subject.

There's all these places.

Look, organizations where mayors can go to meet other mayors or, network or find out what they're doing.

Is there something similar for people that are administrators in cities?

Do you have a do you have a group of colleagues that you can go to?

Well, I'm, I'm fortunate enough to have even been the mayor.

You had those contacts.

Sure.

You know, it's like our pier towns would be Oak Harbor.

Elmore.

Certainly.

We're the closest with them.

Woodville.

Because we're all not only small towns, we're all electric providers, which are our biggest utility.

But, you know, take Scarborough, for example, on the football field, you know, it might be, you know, right, blood sport.

But the moment that game's over, like, right.

What are the rates going to be.

No.

It's like they are our best friends.

So they are a phone call away.

And I always tell people that if like, you know, we're rivals on the football field, but like, but we want the same walk and we're trying to find a person and, you know, so like, for example, their mayor, Quinn Babcock, is a good friend of mine.

We were Eagle Scouts from the same Boy Scout troop.

And so it when you have those connections.

Hey, how are you approaching this grant?

Or are you going to be applying?

That's right.

Yeah.

Tell me, exactly what was your Eagle Scout service project?

Oh, I, there's a Martin Community Hall, fixing the old bathroom.

What, so we get to that?

Yeah.

So I did the.

I painted the inside and did the inside.

My brother did the outside.

It's cool.

My paint lasted longer.

Yeah, I was gonna ask you the better scout was.

But now we know it's him.

No, I finished mine four days before I was 18.

Yeah, so if I failed the whatever the, the interview, I there are no do overs.

Yeah, it was enough.

Those are both Eagle Scouts.

Wonderful.

Very proud of.

Okay, let's discuss this.

This toilet.

You've seen it.

You've been.

I've been there.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

No no no.

You.

No, I think there might be some misnomer.

So it's it's there's been a whole lot of talk.

Yeah.

Let's set the record straight.

Yeah I was yeah.

As the agreement teeth when Brant was saying okay.

So first of all, the village owns the parcel.

Okay.

But it's just the area around it is the former camper school.

Okay.

But, so in the 70s, when you had this wave of, hey, we're going to save historic building instead of knocking them down as a response to knocking them all down in the 50s.

They needed to practice before they saved the general town hall.

So they found this bathroom, this privy of the old elementary school.

And for whatever reason, they got it on the National Register of Historic Places.

Not because there's anything historic about it, but because the fact that it got the stamp.

But there's only two in the whole country that are on the National Register of Historic Places that I'm aware of.

Yeah, there's one in Colorado on some ski resort.

Yeah.

We just have to all.

No, no no, no.

There you go.

So we just the claim to fame is we have we own, you know, at least these, second most historically significant you have visited.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yes.

It's, they're on, on main.

And let's have a big lunch at Ray's, and then our breakfast and head on over.

Yeah, yeah.

All right.

Tom, thank you so much for joining.

Thanks for having me.

Thank you.

All right, when we come back, we'll wrap up this Mayor Monday edition of the 419 Welcome back into the 419.

Mayor Monday, a double dose of mayors here for the first time.

This is the most mayors we've ever packed into a show.

This is the most mayors that have ever been in the studio in the history of that.

It probably isn't true.

This one, this studio, this this their desk.

This desk.

Yeah.

That's true.

Yeah.

What is a privy?

A privy is a small, detached outdoor building.

Uses a toilet.

We like to say toilet.

I mean, y we just did.

Yeah, but it did not say, it's usually over a pit in the ground.

All right, there we go.

So we're going to make the drive.

And they got the oldest one in Genoa.

Yep.

Historical marker.

I just regret that.

That might be the only thing I take from this.

Those.

If you find gentlemen missed any part of the interview, of the conversation with our mayors, you can check it out.

7 a.m.

on YouTube, 3 p.m.

on FM 91, 6 p.m.

on connects channel 30.4 or online 20 4.7.org/the 419.

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