Now the 490 with Gretchen de.

Bakker might kill them.

And Kevin Mullin up into the 419, powered by wget and presented by Retro Wealth Management.

It's mayor Monday.

I'm Kevin mullen, Gretchen debacker.

I kill.

Them.

We are visiting Tree City, USA.

That's right.

Sylvania is our stop today on mayor.

Monday, we're gonna be joined by Sylvania mayor Mark fry and the Sylvania schools superintendent, Doctor Veronica motley.

Excited for that?

Yeah.

Looking forward to that conversation.

I've had a chance to get to know both of them, in various sort of professional capacities, kind of minimally, but, impressed with both of them and excited to, again, as we do here on Mayor Monday, get a view of Sylvania from the eyes of people that just absolutely love.

Yeah.

And care for and serve that community.

And there's no exception here with, with Mayor Frye and Doctor Motley as well.

So looking forward to that.

It's Monday.

Yes.

And, what, any exciting things over the weekend, I went to go see the Saint John's Musical.

Oh, yes.

How was it?

Fantastic.

I mean.

Don't we just band it?

Yeah.

Yeah.

He's like his.

Kid.

The character lacked.

Depth.

So?

So I went into it.

I mean, I've seen this show.

I've seen Saint John's do this show before because my brother was the lead.

No kidding.

When he was in high school, was your.

Brother better or worse?

So Stephen is incredibly talented.

But it's not.

I actually talked to him.

No.

No.

So I actually talk to somebody, so, like, Stephen's a phenomenal singer, but he always, especially in high school, was just finding his way into musical theater and sort of the the movement side of it.

I was not a dancer.

Had the conversation with, Rob Konig, who's the, head of to middle school for.

The Arts.

But he also he's been helping with the Saint John's Musical for 25.

Oh, I didn't know that either.

His first, audition that he helped with was my brother's first audition for the show.

And he was telling me story last night that, like, Stephen's part of the reason why he's been doing this all these years is that he watched somebody with more talent than they knew what to do with.

And he was like, all right, I can help.

Yeah.

That's cool.

It's a great story.

All that to say, Stuart, who was the lead?

AJ Pierpont Finch in How to Sing in Business is fantastic.

He's a great voice and moves really well.

This is a weird question, but what time did this show?

I mean, you must be exhausted.

Oh my goodness.

Yeah.

So I looked at my watch.

It was 9:00 an we had intermission, and I was.

Intermission and I. How old I am.

Yeah.

Now I can't do that.

Show needs to start at 4 p.m.

and be over at 730.

So yeah.

So that would have been that was yesterday's show.

So that was Sunday's show was a matinee.

Okay.

That would have been th right thing for me to do.

Yeah.

I went Thursday.

Yeah.

So.

Mistake.

But it was fantastic.

So good.

Yeah.

Everybody did a great job, and it's exciting knowing the work that goes into that to see, kind of all of that come together.

It's just a lot of fun.

So, enjoyed having them on the program.

Of course.

Matt, we missed you.

On that on that day.

But you're back.

I'm back.

Get back in the saddle.

Ready for a full week?

Spent, some time in Washington, DC.

I did, yes, our nation's capital, which was, freezing.

Really?

But, yeah, it was cold.

Very cold there.

And this is the third year going with, the Twitter Regional Lions.

So leaders from the city, the county today, the Metroparks, of course, I get the privilege of working for during my, the, the day.

And what we do is we have gotten more sophisticated in the three years.

We organize ourselve around projects and priorities.

And, and policy.

So who do you share a room with?

Myself.

No one else wanted to be anywhere near me.

Encouraged me to stay in my own hotel.

I can I can relate to that.

Yeah, sure.

Yeah, I get it.

But, yeah, I was honored to represent and not only the Metro parks, my region with that great group of people.

All right.

We're going to take a break when we come back.

We kick off Mayor Monday with the mayor of Sylvania, Mark Frye.

We'll be right back on the 419.

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Welcome back into the 419.

It's Mayor Monday and we're visiting Sylvania, Ohio.

We're joined now by Sylvania Mayor Mark Frye.

Mayor, thank you so much for joining us.

Thanks for having me.

This is term number one.

It is for.

You.

How's it going?

What's to do?

I basically mayor style.

My predecessor resigned and retired from office after 29 years.

So I was mayor, filling out his rest of his term.

Ran for a full term in November of 25, obviously.

And then we're fortunate enough to win.

And as the saying goes, there's two ways to run unopposed or scared.

I was running unopposed so I only use my vote and I was.

In the mayor.

If I were you on city council previously, how did what was your experience that got you to the positio of running unopposed for mayor?

I was on council for ten years.

Okay.

I originally was appointed and then ran for three terms.

The last four years on council, I was president.

And based on the city charter, when the mayor resigns from office to the president of council basically is sworn in as mayor.

And that's what happened.

Very nice.

About that.

And you were.

This was an ideal situation.

You took you took a step back and said why am I doing this to myself?

I mean, you were community oriented.

In the molecular level, certainly.

But what where at some point where you're like, hi, this is a lot.

You're a very busy person.

Why does this matter to you?

I want to give back to the community.

I know it sounds like I wan world peace kind of thing, but, giving back to the community is important.

I work in a segment where I work with a lot of public sector entities, and I move, the metro parks for sure.

Thank you.

Thank you for.

Please have a second.

Yeah.

Perfect.

So, No, it's it's really that simple.

I want to try to give back to the community I served on before.

I was on council.

I was on, board of Lot industries and and boar of developmental Disabilities.

Served there for 12 years.

Six years as president.

So kind of ingrained and trying to provide service back to the community.

Community.

I moved here well over 30 years ago.

Now I love the area, and I think it's just a great place to live.

Is being the mayor a full time position?

Pay full time.

Or it's not paid full time?

No, it can be full time, depending on what's going on.

It varies.

It's probably ten to between 10 hours and 20 hours a week.

My wife would probably tell you it's a bit more.

Because.

When you're dealing, you're not digging, digging holes or anything like that.

This is not a physical kin of thing.

It's a mental thing.

So turning it off and trying to remember, hey, by the way, you need to spend time focused on other thing other than doing your day job or doing this situation in my role as mayor.

Well, when you have a day job that has you sort of around the region, you can go to the grocery stor and not be, you know, Mark fry, Palmer Energy.

You know, walking u and down the aisles of sadr's.

But you're always the mayor.

I am.

And so, I mean, that had to have been even the shift from city council to now, mayor, I imagine that trip to the grocery store changed a little bit that that you're getting more people saying, hey, while I got you.

I've started to have some of that.

I believe there's people in Sylvania ten years from now that still going to think Mayor Style is still mayor.

Sure.

Because I. See telling people that.

I don't.

Think so.

I think it's down to his credit.

Obviously, he's he's been a, a wellspring of information and wisdom.

I've called on hi a number of times saying, hey, mayor, what do you think of this?

What's your thought process?

That wisdom of 30 years in the role, watching the city evolve and change with, with his efforts as well as obviously other members of the community, city council and the like.

But fundamentally, that's been helpful for me.

But, by the large Kevin I'm still pretty much anonymous.

Yeah.

How do you put this down?

Is there is there some place i your house that you decompress, or is there a hobby?

How are you able to sort of quiet, or is that still to be determined?

I'm I'm still trying to figure that out.

The two ways that I, that I can, mentally disengage, is reading a book or to, to play golf.

Okay.

I'm not particularly good at either one anymore.

Yeah, but, but that's where I have to focus my mind enough that I can shov everything else off to the side.

What do you like to read?

Science fiction.

Awesome.

Tell us a little bit about your.

You said you came to the region about 30 years ago.

Tell us a little bit about that journey.

What brought you here?

You've lived in Sylvania this whole time?

Sure.

I came to the area, many years ago, in the late 1980s.

I had a jo with one of the glass companies.

I became their energy.

Buyer.

Worke there for four and a half years.

Moved to Boston for a year.

Great place to be a tourist, particularly if you have an unlimited checkbook.

Didn't like it.

I'm from central Pennsylvania originally.

My wife and I are, and so much more small town feel for, Boston doesn't have that.

Obviously more travel in Boston.

I was living in a place called Natick, which is about 20 miles outside of Boston.

So you're taking the train back and forth, and I'm flying 3 or 4 days a week from one city to the next to Boston.

And I don't know if you've ever been in Boston traffic or anywhere on the East Coast when you have traffic.

I mean, I realized I didn't want to stay in Boston.

I was, I was coming back, my flight was delayed, and it was 2:00 in the morning, and I was coming through th tunnels in Boston at the time, and there was no road construction.

It was no accident, and traffic was dead.

Stop.

I got to get out of this building.

That's one of the things.

I love about the Toledo area.

In 20 minutes, you could get it anywhere.

That city is built for horses.

And having everything I. We have relatives live on the Cape.

I went to school on the East coast, so I do love Boston to visit.

Yep.

To your point, yes, Boston i one of my favorite cities too, but I have never spent more than a weekend there.

Okay, so I don't have.

That's the way to do it.

Yeah.

Yes, sir.

Go enjoy the go.

Enjoy the activities and sights and circumstances and have some great meals.

And get out.

That's all wonderful, but.

And they're insufferable sports teams, which is.

I could do a special on that, but.

I'm so excited.

So I don't know, you.

Know, so is my father.

Yeah.

Speaking.

Like your dad that I never met him, but.

I like.

Yeah, well, that's because you have them.

I'm just kidding.

Elements.

Yeah.

Science fiction, Star Trek love.

Star Trek.

Which one is your favorite?

New generation?

My dad's the same.

Yeah.

And I love it, and I agree.

I don't want to sound like the Big Bang Theory, but, some of the episodes on the original Star Trek.

I actually saw it when I was very small.

Yeah.

When they were actually running on TV.

Not on reruns.

Actual, first run, but, on.

I remember not being able to see my dad was like, you got to get you got to go to bed.

You got to go to bed.

Because my mom was yelling.

So yeah, that.

Was what I wanted to.

Watch.

My, my, we are a Star Trek family for sure.

We're talking with Mark Frye, the mayor of Sylvania.

Introduce us to Sylvania.

When you when you're talking to, you know, you're, you're traveling around the country and you're telling somebody about your community, what do you say?

So there is a wonderful place we have.

We we don't we don't make things.

We'r not making widgets in Sylvania.

We have great health care.

We have great school system.

We have the opportunity to make great citizens and do some wonderful things in our community.

And that's our that' one of our primary focus areas.

And, we just have a vibrant bedroom community in the greater Toledo area.

And as I've said to many people, if you're 15 miles away, whether you live in the township or the city, you say you're from Sylvania.

If you're 100 miles away, you say you're from Toledo.

If you're 400 miles, 500 miles away or more, you say you're from Ohio.

And that's just the way.

Because if you're in southern Florida and you say, oh, I'm from Sylvania, Ohio, they're going to look at yo like you got rocks in your head.

They don't have a clue.

You say you're from Ohio and they're thinking about them, and you immediately hear them click into their mind, and they're looking at a map of the United States with the lines on and saying, okay, I know that's where Ohio is, right?

I mean, you've you've chosen Sylvania to be your home for the last 30 years.

Why?

I just love the area.

School district is phenomenal.

And I think a lot of people come to the Sylvania area in the city of Sylvania, specifically because of the schools.

We have great parks, obviously.

Yeah, of course.

And and outdoor Sylvania as well.

I can absolutely give them props.

Yep.

But we have a wonderful, basically joint recreation district is is incredible with Pace Park and the like.

But fundamentally it boils down to schools.

We came to the swimming, area from West Toledo because of the schools we talked.

This program air Toledo brine, Defiance and Line.

And I think folks, obviously in the Toledo area, you probably have a good idea of geographically where Sylvania is located.

But talk to me about the, the geographic boundaries of what makes up Sylvania.

Versus, I guess, maybe Sylvania Township.

Yeah.

That's tough.

We if Sylvania Township and Sylvania border looks like a congressional district, it's pretty jagged.

One side of the street, literally all over the place.

You have, Sylvania Township.

The other side.

You have the city.

Just based on the nature.

We only have 6.5mi in the city.

Sylvania.

So it's very compact and a lo of that is roads and cemeteries.

So, so we don't have a lot of space.

The township is obviously geographically much larger, but as far as it goes if you look at the at the total, the northwestern corner effectively of of the Sylvania area is the city of Sylvania.

The surrounding part to the to the east.

To the sout is the township.

By and large.

How many people do you represent?

19,000.

2000?

That's more than I would hav guessed.

What are.

The unique?

So I grew up in Sylvania.

Grew up in.

This is not your fault.

That's right.

Don't take credit for that.

Yeah.

So Riverwood Stream Farms, I loved it, you know, was able to, I didn't walk to school every day, but it was, you know, a small and a tight knit community that I would.

I could walk to School.

Island, I assume.

What's that island?

I went to school.

Sylvania.

Oh.

Did you okay.

Yeah.

So I went to Central Sylvania.

So I would cut through Lord's universities, campus to get.

When I forgot a book or something.

My mom was like, I'm not taking you back for that.

You're on your own.

But love the community.

One of the things that I think is unique when you look at, small towns is, is your downtown area.

Yep.

You know, having bars and restaurants, retail.

How much of your day to day is spent on, you know, trying to maintain and grow that vibrant neighborhood.

That I have a very talented staff.

So they do a lot of that lifting from an administrative level.

My thought process is more about tryin to set the overall objectives.

I see myself, I hate to say this, but as a CEO, to some extent, I'm not rolling my sleeves up doing the blocking and tackling that we have.

We have other individuals to do that.

The nice thing about the downtown areas we do have basically the Redbird swing, Redbird, and they do a phenomenal job.

Volunteers who are going out many of them are business owners in the Sylvania downtow footprint or surrounding area, and they are volunteering their time to try to make the downtown footprint and, and Sylvania more vibrant place to live.

And they jus they do an incredible job there.

They're a godsend for our community.

It is not only, a bustling downtown with new things, but it's it's maintained a charming esthetic as well.

What's the duality o sort of old and new down there?

I think the duality is, is one of those things where the market drives that we have.

We have places like, you know a local bookstore, for instance.

We have restaurants, we have bars.

And that kind of vibe is, is something that's not always captured.

Right.

You know, when you try to make it into a much larger retail footprint, we are obviously investing a lot in the downtown we did last year.

We're going to do that again this year.

We're going to do the two blocks basically from on Main Street north of Monroe Street, and we refurbished one.

We're in the process of refurbishing the other.

First time we've touched it in over 40 years, other than we had 100 year old utilities there.

And, we decided many years ago we were squirreling the city was squirreling money away to put the opportunity together to refurbish the downtown because it needed it.

It was vibrant.

But we expect that once this is finished, somewhere around October of thi year, mid, mid to late October this year, that's going to b really, really pretty amazing.

I'll tell you what it is something that's not necessarily intuitive to the average person, but thinking about plannin that ahead of time as opposed to when the disaster, is occurred, is a sign of forethought and real leadership.

So, and that's something that is a sexy thing to be celebrated, but certainly something that should be talked about a lot.

That's that's forward thinking.

And the downtown area there is thriving as a result of, not just your leadership, to your point, but a but a collective.

So congratulations on that.

What's, what what are you doin to sort of develop relationships with some of the other regional mayors?

I knew most of the mayors because of my day job.

Anyways, mayor caps, cabbage.

Mayor Pedro.

I've.

I've not.

Well, I've met in passing the mayor of Oregon.

I have not had a chance to really spend much time with hi or the mayor of Perrysburg yet.

I want to get to know those two individuals I've met, Naomi' mayor as well, just in passing, because that's kind of a new thing.

Yeah, it's kind of a transition.

There's a whole transition a lot of more seasoned mayors.

And then there's there's kind of the leading edge of that transition.

So I want to get to spend some time.

They all have a different perspective.

It's always goo to get different perspectives.

Hey, this is what's going on in our community.

And we've done a little bit of that.

It, it Lake Erie West Regional Council used to be called team of car meetings on the like, but not not as much as I think that I would like to do.

I want to continue to develop those relationships, to be able to tap on their, their shoulder and say, hey, you know we're we're dealing with this.

Have you seen something similar?

And how did how did your city.

And that's right.

We're talking with Mayor Frye.

Mark Frye, the mayor of the city of Sylvania.

What's the the biggest headache for you?

What's the thing that keeps you up at night?

As it relates to this, this mayor role?

The biggest thing that keeps me up at night is safety, you know?

Well, that's a close second.

And.

The biggest thing is safety of our citizens.

My, I'm the conservator of the piece, and and while the police chief is out there leading the the team of of officers an highly seasoned professionals, the bottom line is, that's the thing that keeps me up at night.

And the first I know when I became mayor, I sat down with all the senior staff on the leadership, and I know a little bit, a little bit about the legal stuff.

I've done tons of contracts.

I know lot about streets, I know a lot about utilities.

You know, I know a lot about economic developmen and any community interaction.

I don't know squat about being a police officer.

So I asked the chief exactly the same thing.

You just ask me, which is what keeps you up at night.

And if I get a call at 3:00 in the morning from you, what's it going to be about?

And she basically said, and keeps me up at night as a officer getting injured or shot or, or some sort of a tragedy where there's a homicide or a death in our community.

And she said, those are the things that your phone's going to ring.

On.

That when you put al of these things into a blender.

Again, I know you'd be a the thoughtful person and a strategist, bu that is now part of your life.

Indeed.

You know that that taught me a little bit about the challenge of that.

You know, again, where how do you balance this?

And you have a team that supports you and experts and they'r then they're part of the team.

But this is this i life and death quite literally.

Can be.

How how do you manage that?

How do you compartmentalize that.

And I mean that in, in a helpful CEO way.

How does that function.

How do you are ther are there books that you read?

Is there when you benchmar other areas across the country where where do you find guidance or solace?

Those are hard decisions.

You know, my faith is part of that, and it's part of that role and part of that balance.

Trying to say, okay, what what is the right thing to do, you know, how do how does your Christian faith impact this?

I don't want to focus.

I kno this is the circumstances, but, fundamentally, that's part of this puzzle.

And trying to say, okay, this is an important piece.

And, and really looking at it, saying if you were in the other person's shoes.

How would you want to be treated?

How would you want to have the reaction.

How do we make sur that people are walking to the so that you have a ten year old forgot their book and mom or dad says now you're on your own Kevin, you're on your own.

You got to walk back and go get that.

Because of the nature of that, it's safe enough in our community to do that.

Many communities in our country, unfortunately, I'm guessing the parent wouldn't be willing to do that.

And I and I like to think tha swimming is one of those places that remain like that where you can go on vacation if you if you need it and not worry about your, you know, your house getting broken into even if you forgot to lock your doors.

Sure.

Mayor Mark Frye with the City of Sylvania, we come back.

Let's talk about the future of Sylvania.

What are some of the goals and some of the things that, we might see, coming to, but I still love to refer to History City USA.

Right, right.

It's a beautiful, beautiful, corner of northwest Ohio.

We're talking with Mark Frye, the mayor of City Sylvania, here on a mayor Monday on the 419.

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All right.

Some of these, we'll get it figured out eventually where it's mayor Monday, we're talking with Mark Frye, the mayor of the city of Sylvania.

Let's talk about the future.

As you look to, you know, three and a half years left on your first term as mayor, what are what are your goals for that first term?

I want construction to be finished.

The downtown footprint will be done.

The bridge, in Monroe Street will be finished at the end of this year.

Still have some cleanup and some and some and some gussying up as my, my mo or my grandma would have said.

But, basically, I'm looking forward to that.

It's going to I think, create a transformative momentum to our community.

We're going to make it look even better than what it looked prior to that.

The downtown.

I think if you've been to the downtown footprint, the first block, think about that, because the first block was always vibrant and active, and the second block didn't look the same to Warren as many businesses and such, close by and up front towards the street.

I think slowly over time those things are going to start to shift, particularly on the second block.

I think the market will drive some of those investments by either peopl in our community or elsewhere.

So I'm I'm looking forward t helping be the catalyst to that, to continue that transformation in our community.

We've talked to some of the other mayor Monday guests about data centers.

Many of the regional mayors are faced with will.

They won't they should they shouldn't they about data centers.

What's what's your position?

Or as you've been approached about data centers.

The screening has not been I mean, we have six square mile and it's basically all houses.

Which is good.

I mean, you know, I love the fact that we are, we're a residential community, and it's wonderful.

We don't physically have the space in order to do what what effectively is the kind of data centers they want to build now, what's called hyperscale data centers, you need five, 600, maybe a thousand acres of property.

There's nothing.

And so we like I say, we only have 6.5mi.

So there's nothing in Savannah that would permit that.

Not probabl not even in Sylvania Township.

So it's, you're looking at Richfield, you're looking at Spencer you're looking at some of the, you know, maybe Waterville Township on Clover Township, some of those areas where you hav that sort of available property.

And I'm not saying that those those places are necessarily going to be looked at.

But if you but if you're going to build a hyperscale data center, that's the general corridor that you would be looking at in Lucas County.

The, the general public you know, knows about this much.

Right?

Very little of sort of the, the, the actual kind of challenges and issues.

And I think we at least for me, I, I pick up little nuggets from, you know, a news story here or a conversation with a friend or something on social media.

What what are the, you know, the actual facts.

The, the benefits and the challenges facing communitie as it relates to data centers.

If if you have an opportunity to put a data center in your area, the, the reason that those larg pieces of property are looked at and are not looking at refurbishing 100 or 200 acres in the city of Toledo for instance, in a more industrialized area boils down to a very simple thing the electrical loads, the consumption of electricity at these particular locations are so.

Large.

That you have to have very high capacity, voltage lines to, to basically feed these facilities.

And, or you have to generate your own power, the newer one that are going to be constructed over the next ten years or so are going to probably have their own generation to a significant extent.

That generation will be fired with natural gas, and therefore those places where there's large, high pressure natural gas pipeline is where they're going to look.

So they need property, they need water, they need high pressure natural gas, they need power lines.

They need labor.

The confluence of those circumstance get you to western Lucas County, in in parts of Wood County around the northwest Ohio area, because there' the confluence of those things.

All engag in those particular locations.

The city of Toledo has the high, high voltage lines, but you cannot build a 48 inch high pressure, 700 pound gauge natural gas pipeline through the center of a city would never get the permits to do it, and I don't think you should.

They did that in more rural areas with some of the pipelines they built in the last 10 or 15 years.

So we have a collective choice to make in our genera community, which boils down to if we don't want to do this, we have, that's a choice.

And we have to recognize that these billions of dollars of investment are not going to come into our community.

If we do, there's going to be some impact on certain areas in in the greater Toledo area.

I'm not advocating one wa or another, but what I would say is as an old stor and as far as I know, it's true.

And the story is that in the early 90s, right around the turn of th 20th century, of the early 1900, a gentleman came into the city of Toledo and said, we want to build a large car manufacturing and automotive assembly facility in our in in your community.

We really want to do it in Toledo because of the lake access, the availability of rail and the vibrant and growing area of Toledo.

The people in Toledo at that time were the city fathers, so to speak, said no.

His name was Henry.

Ford, right.

Mayor of Chicago, which tells that story.

It's true, often based on what I've heard.

Of that guy do.

He did pretty well.

Yeah, yeah.

And to my point, the Toledo, the Toledo survived.

Absolutely.

Northwest Ohio continue to go.

Okay.

But what would have happened had we brought 50,000 automotive assembly jobs into to the Toledo area?

What would this now look like?

I bet we would have a interstate highway to Columbus.

I bet, I bet you're right.

One of the other things we ask our other, Mayor Monday guess is about, housing.

And many of them identify that is the number one concern or issu facing their community that the, older housing stock, the need to or the desire to develop more housing.

Is that a concern for you in Sylvania?

It is.

We have, we have lots of varied housing stock, obviously, living in the community.

Too many of the homes.

My home was built in the mid 1960s.

And my wife and I decided to stay in, refurbish and not go out, I mean, the, you know, cornfield somewhere and get another one.

You know, nothing wrong with that decision, but that wasn't for us.

I believe that there's, when you invest in your community, as Sylvania is investing in this community, there will be a natural refurbishment, when somebody does something, when your neighbor does something, whether it's their front yard or they're making a an investment in their front yard.

I don't know what your reactio is, but I know what my wife and his reaction, hey, you.

Know, what are you gonna do?

What could we do?

What can we do?

Right.

You got some.

Naturally, you naturally move forward with that process.

I think the same thing will happen and is, is the further you get away from the interstate access to interstates, the more likely it is to have those.

Those closer bedroom communities.

As long as the bedroom community feels safe and everybody is comfortable, if there is going to be those investment.

If you were going to have some guests, into Sylvania for the day, maybe someone that wanted to invest or maybe just relatives, what would what would your day?

What would you do?

What would you show them?

In Sylvania or the region for the day to show what else changes?

Pizza sauce.

Inside the five.

Yeah.

What's your favorite pizza changes?

Well, straight, small pizza with pepperoni.

They're very simple.

Easy.

Enjoy those.

Those two spots.

There's, you know, a far as locations, I take them.

The pace setter.

I mean, I've had people from, all over Ohio in different spots.

When I say, hey, by the way, I'm from Sylvania.

Most of the time I get the glaze over, but every now and the I say, that's pacesetter part.

We love that place.

We've taken our kids there for soccer tournaments or baseball tournaments or what have you.

And that to me is part of it.

Going to see the Metro parks, going to see, Oleander Park Outdoor Sylvania.

Depending on what the interest of the, of the people are, whether it was a place called Fossil Park.

Yeah.

Of course Sylvania runs now, you know, that's not something that in my circumstances of my age that I'm particularly interested in digging around rocks and knocking, knocking them open to find.

Out, because you are the.

Fossil that I, you could.

Just hide in your yard and have people say.

Exactly.

I will tell you that Oleander, was my Lucy's favorite park.

And I tell Erica Marie, that they're great leader of the park system.

There.

That, and I was always trying to coax her into saying a metro park as the never went about one of the ones that that where she's like, no.

It's a no.

Jill Landers.

So much of.

That, that is the Lucy Killam stamp of approval.

That's her favorite park in the area, hands down.

My wife and I did, kayak yoga at Oleander.

Yeah.

And I this is.

An example of a thing that he just says.

And I. But the only reason.

Is that the thing.

Is a thankfully, the only reason why I was invited to d it was because she knew, like, I'm going to fall over.

So how do you so how do you do Warriors pose on a kayak.

And I got to ask.

You.

For about a half a second and then you're in the water.

Okay.

I was going to say Kevin.

Describes every pos he's in, period, as the warrior.

That's right.

This is what.

Your dog is.

Also, you're welcome.

To get right up.

My gosh.

So all right, mayor Frye, it's now time to play.

Gretchen's wacky quiz.

Bob.

Thank you.

Matt.

You're rocking.

I you'r I don't know.

It's really.

Bad.

I mean, you you were off for a couple of days.

I know this was a vacation.

This is your first day back.

I mean, give me some energy.

Mad Gretchen's.

Wacky quiz pop.

Up for rapid fire questions for me.

Gretchen's going to ask for your favorite thing in or about Sylvania, and then you and Matt will describe Sylvania in exactly nine words.

Here we go.

If you were at these.

Yeah.

I guess if you were a deejay, what would your DJ name be?

Oh my gosh.

Slim.

My man.

Deejays DJ.

Slim I love it.

From now on that's I'm referring to you in public media.

For next time.

There was.

Something that made.

It certainly not accurate.

One time was.

What' something that makes you angry?

People that don't liste when other people are talking.

I'm sorry.

What were you saying exactly?

What's what's a song that's guaranteed to cheer you up?

Walking on sunshine.

Good dance.

That's a good song.

And who is your celebrity look alike?

Oh, I would love to say the guy who is, I don't remember what the actor's name is.

Who's on Outlander, because that's.

My wife loves Jamie Frazier.

So whatever that guy's name is.

All right?

I think you look like the guy.

I don't.

Think I look like my wife but that's what I have to say.

There on the show.

That hurts.

You handsome.

Thing.

Thing?

What is your number one most favorite thing, or what you consider to b the best thing about Sylvania?

I think the people, people are friendly.

I was just, talking to somebody a few minutes ago.

When you're in Sylvania and you're driving through the neighborhood, people wave all the time.

The stop when you're taking a walk.

They're going to talk to you when you're at the grocery store they're going to speak with you.

And and people are friendly, they're respectful and recognize that, so far, you know, they've treated me with, some privacy.

They haven't come knocking on the door saying, I want to talk about this, even though they know that I live there.

So I appreciate the people.

Great.

That's a good start for the nine words that describe Slovenia or the region.

Okay.

So one, I'm going to give you the people and I'll give you two, which is the community.

So we've got seven more.

Let's do it.

Just just general words there.

Absolutely.

GG's.

That's on the list for sure.

Inside the five you've got.

We're halfway done already.

You've already done the work.

So I think I think generally red.

Bird, red broom.

Yes.

Parks for sure.

Schools.

Yes, sir.

Schools.

Love it.

Two more.

Trees.

Trees.

Got to say trees.

What's your wife's name?

Cynthia.

Cynthia, you got your live?

Fair enough.

Strong.

Close.

Mark Fry, the mayor of the city of Sylvania.

I know you guys have got som really cool downtown festivals, things like that.

Talk to me about dates and what what's coming up this summer and Sylvania.

Fall Festival is mid mid-October.

Actually this year, because we're still probably going to be under construction downtown.

That'll be out, Bicentennial, Centennial Terrace and, that'll hopefully be the last year.

We're going to bring it back downtown.

We got a memorial da parade coming up.

A lot of them.

We have a we were fortunate enough in, 3 or 4 weeks, we're going to have a tree planting.

We're going to a, we're going to plant an oak tree, on city property by the administrative building, by the Creek style administrative building.

And, that's for the 250th anniversary.

That's a whole thing we're starting, to focus on.

Obviously, the 250th anniversar of the founding of our country.

And, every county in Ohio was going to get one tree.

And we were fortunate enough to be the be the Tree City, obviously.

So we asked for that and said, we want to have that there.

We're going to have a ceremony in a few weeks on that, and I'm probably going to have a shovel in my hand with a goofy looking hat.

Yeah, we expect nothing less.

Story.

My life.

Mayor Mark Frye with the City of Sylvania.

Thank you so much.

Yeah, I enjoyed it.

Thanks for the opportunity.

When we come back, we're going to dive into so many schools and we're joined by Sylvania Superintendent Doctor Veronica motley.

We'll be right back on the 419.

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Welcome back in to the 41 that was directed at man, that.

Was directed him.

At Doctor Molly.

It's Mayor Monday and we'r visiting the city of Sylvania.

We're joined now by Sylvania School superintendent Doctor Veronica motley.

Doctor Motley, thank you so much for joining us.

Oh, thank you for having me.

Thank you for being here.

I will tell you what it it was a pressure full time here.

Mayor Frye mentioned schools about 93 times in a short second.

So, clearl something that's very important.

My my father went to Sylvania school system when there was just one.

Okay.

Or none.

And he's a very, very old man.

So.

But there's a lot to be proud of here.

Well and you and Mayor Frye are both also in sort of unique positions where you're stepping into roles where the building where you office is named after your predecessor.

Yes.

So, Riga doctor Brad.

Rieger, so long legacies that.

You have known monster.

Because, you know.

He's a great guy.

He is And he also has a great podcast.

You've been in the role for about almost six years.

Six years?

Oh, you're kidding me.

Yeah, that's.

I actually started in August of 2020.

So I'm in my sixth year as superintendent.

And you're only 27 years old.

And this is coming to you.

Absolutely.

That's right.

Really?

32 but I'll take this.

I'm coming in in August of 2020.

I know, you know, we hate to go back.

And there was nothing going on then.

But.

You know, obviously challenges.

What what has change in the district, over the last six years?

You know, I would start with, frankly, when Covid hit or the pandemic, that little thing, really how we were thrust into using technology for instruction and delivering instruction.

It forced us as a district like many other Ohio districts, to look at how we were going to deliver instruction, to our students on a regular basis, with continuity, with integrity and also with rigor.

And we were all learning at the same time what this was going to look like.

And then what we had found that after we were on the other side, that some of that information that we learned in the new technology, we we kept it because we found that it really augmented what we were already doing.

It enhanced some things.

We also learned that we didn't want to do, but more importantly, we figured out, wow, this is a way to help our students be prepared for after they cross the stage, because quite frankly, colleges were already doing it.

So it kind of brought us forward where we may not have otherwise gone.

What effects are you still seeing?

I know most people think Covid is over.

We don't have to think about it anymore.

But are there residual effects on parents and and students, because of the pandemic?

Yeah.

In some regard, yes.

And I think it's diminishing as we get further away from that moment in time.

So I yeah, I think that, we saw a ver significant increase in anxiety, not only with our students, but with staff.

Yes.

For some instances, like people were fearful.

Was it going to be forever?

Was this a forever change and not knowing what it was going to be like on the other side, but you know, one thing that we've been able to do is work with our counselors.

We've partner partnered with UT to do, an assessment once a year with some of our student to kind of prepare and identify for those students who are still struggling with anxiety.

We've really, increased how we serve students with a variety of resources, not only within the district, but beyond the school walls and working and working with agencies across the area, and als how we're just providing lessons about teaching kids about how to self-regulate and how to recognize when they're feeling anxious and giving them the skills to cope through that so they can get through that moment and that skill.

And that's the skill they'll take forever, right?

That's something that we try to do.

I, you know, the the way that you just described that I think you're a perfect person to ask this question to.

I think everyone is familiar with the title of superintendent, but talk to me about what that role is and means from a CEO's standpoint or practicality or the or the I guess, the clinical sense of it, but the reality of your days quarters and your 3 to 5 year plannin what we all say, superintendent.

But what does what does tha mean?

What are you what is it?

What does that role do?

Even in an ideal state?

I would think first of all, people need to understand and recognize that, a school superintendent is unlike any other CEO.

First of all, it's a lifestyle.

My job is 24 seven.

And the spectrum of responsibilities from.

I believe in.

Getting up and driving roads at 430, 5:00 in the morning in the winter, when.

You're in and I've seen you drive.

That's not right.

That's not an ideal.

If you see a black chief with a little cab Apu in the front seat.

Yeah.

You'l use that language on the show.

But don't.

You know You should just cancel school?

But you're not going to drive cars.

Yeah, and it's interesting because it's not always just snow.

It can be road conditions.

It can be freezing fog, which is something very new to me.

I was not familiar with freezing fog coming from Northeast Ohio, but there's just so many things.

So that's one part of it, right?

The other part is making sur that our staff and our families have what they need.

Yes, to be able to take advantage of the opportunities that we offer.

And so you schools and always looking for what's next.

You can't relax as school superintendent and say we're good enough.

This is fine.

We have to look at what's coming down the road.

What can we anticipate?

Any educator, any superintendent, will tell you we are preparing children for job that we don't even know exist.

So we have to be driven to ask the questions, get the status quo.

What's coming down the road?

How can we improve?

What's the new thing out there and do the research to make sure it's something that fits for our community and recognizing, that Sylvania is unique within itself.

We have generation after generation after generation that returns to Sylvania.

And and Mayor Frye spoke to this a little bit.

We have folks who reside in Sylvania and have gone to Sylvania schools for three unfortunate generations, and sometimes they will go away to college and then they decide once they start to become that age, they want to have children.

They want to come back to Sylvania so their children can hav the same educational, academic, well-rounded experience that they had as a child.

We're talking oh, it's awesome.

Superintendent Veronica motley from Sylvania Schools, can you just tell us the numbers of the district high school, the numbers of students?

And we're we we're around 77 to 8000 in any given year.

We're seeing a slight decrease right now, but we anticipate some bubbles coming in the near future.

But right now we have two high schools, Northview U Wildcats and Southview Cougars.

And I have your favorites right now.

Both.

Both I love them.

Yes, ma'am.

Yep.

Yes.

Let's try that.

Yes.

I appreciate that.

I would also say we have three junior highs and we have seven elementary buildings.

We also serve students as early as preschool.

And then we serve students with special needs until they age to age 21.

So we have a breadth of, services that we provide for our students and our families.

And, our high schools are comprehensive.

We have our own career and programs housed within both of our high schools.

So we have over 14 career programs that if our students want to go into the medical field or engineering, they have a choice and they can go to either high school to follow their career path already identified.

So, it's a fabulous school district.

It's been a privilege to serve.

So you're in a unique seat today, right?

Having started six years ago, but you've also announced your retirement.

Yes, sir.

What?

What do you hope when people look back on your time with Sylvania?

What do you hope is is your legacy and what are you most excited about for, the next guy that gets to driv the roads at 430 in the morning and we're at the.

Party going.

To be, Good question.

Yeah.

First of all, I think what I'm most proud of is that we've been able to continue to maintain the legacy.

Our children are still continuing to thrive, despite what when I came and what we started with going through that time, our programs have expanded.

We continue to partner with different community agencies to make sure our student are having authentic experiences with businesses in our district to make sure that we are, starting new programs.

One thing that we're really proud of, ironically, when I came to the district, when we were when I was going through the interview process, they weren't familiar with esports.

Yeah.

And I remember in the interview, folks were like, e-sports.

I'm like, yes, it is tru your child cannot go to college.

That's right.

Playing video games.

And to this moment right now today, this is six years later, our sports teams have placed at state.

They've gone to national.

They they're on the road to go to National again.

So going from not knowing to actually developing, that's what we do.

So having that legacy that just e-sports.

But I think it is symbolic o what we do in Sylvania schools.

I'm also proud of the fact that we were able to accomplish a strategic plan that keeps us focused.

It says our GPA of where we're going.

So, I'm leaving that in the hands of my successor.

And then also our master facilities plan so that we are prepared wit how our enrollment may fluctuate with I'll be at preschool or in junior high.

We're prepared to, look at our buildings and go, what do we need to do to accommodate where growth may happen in the district or may decline in the district?

So those are some things I'm happy to leave now.

Are you are you.

Truly retiring or are you moving on to a new opportunity?

A new opportunity?

Okay, good, yes I am.

You know what I'm too young to retire.

Yeah.

And I still have a lot of energy left.

I could not go from again.

Being a superintenden is such a lifestyle.

Yes.

Right.

I work 60 hours a week.

Two times 80 hours a week.

It all depends.

It ups and flows.

But on the other hand, I can't do that and then go to zero and say, I just can't.

I drive my dog nuts.

I like my guy enough.

Yeah.

Probably be a little insan for myself.

My own well-being.

He mentioned that actuall going.

Yeah, are we going to do that, please?

For her time.

For a job.

I'm excited to still contribute, but in a supportive role.

Not so much a leadership role, but in a supportive role in education.

So we've asked this of everyone, that comes on that has a high level, high stress daunting mission based vocation.

But what do you do to decompress?

And phone down if you can, although it's always close to yo because you are interacting with our future.

Right.

And it was a 24 seven job.

We certainly believe that.

But is there, guilty pleasure.

Do you play put on your headset and play e-sports?

How do you how do you decompress?

How do you not be, the superintendent for a little while?

You know what?

I just like being outside.

I like to garden.

Okay?

I really love to garden.

I like spending time with my guy and my dog.

What's your dog's name?

Cricket.

Yeah, cricket.

The carve up no is so sweet.

Yeah.

But I ask.

What do you what is a casual food?

It is a dish between.

Oh, you will care if I eat, I can we can talk all day about cricket.

In fact, he's typicall part of my opening day speech.

Every year I have a picture of cricket that people kno that he's very important to me.

I think my guy sometime gets jealous because it's like, yeah, yeah, yeah it's my screensaver now.

Yeah.

But anyway, cricke is a combination between a king Charles Cavalier and a poodle.

So he he's very cute.

Beautiful.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Now I digress.

You were asking me.

Oh, how do I relax?

Yeah.

Actually, we also like to travel when we can.

We definitely like to travel, and sometimes it's just a weekend getaway.

Of course, I love going to concerts.

Yeah, that's another.

What's the best cancer you've seen of late?

Oh you two atmosphere.

Yeah I just feel it was.

A it was it changed my fabric honestly it was amazing.

Was there a particular song or the whole both.

All of them.

Did you call.

You.

It's.

Yeah, I know the whole time.

The whole time you were just immersed into this.

It's experience, the videos and the music and we happened to it.

That' how it feels like even busters.

Oh yeah, she loves it.

I got a lot of tickets left.

Tickets?

Tokens.

We're talking with Doctor Veronica motley, the superintendent, Sylvania schools.

It's not often we get to flip the script on an educator.

You.

No.

Yes.

I'll give you a test.

Oh, my gosh, it's no time for Gretchen's wacky quiz.

Bye bye bye.

Good job.

Man four rapid fire questions for me.

Gretchen's asking for your favorite thing in or about the region.

And then you.

And to describe the Sylvania area in exactly nine words.

All right.

Are they ready?

Not ten.

Nine.

Nine, nine.

Which, mythical creature do you wish was real?

A unicorn.

But they're not real.

Don't tell.

Her.

Okay, if you could pass on this, I. Might regret this one this morning.

If you could talk to the preside Or would you talk to him at all?

Does it have to be our president?

Could be any president.

Any president?

Oh, that's a good question.

Educatio and how we plan for the future, especially when we don't know what's coming down the road for jobs.

Like, how can we work together to make more, make more opportunities for students?

And on the top of that list, how can we make sure our students are bilingual?

Nice.

Great.

What chor do you absolutely despise doing?

Oh, cleaning the shower drain.

Yeah, it's not a chore, but it's one of those things.

I just have to pull that hair out.

I know, right?

It makes me.

Gag.

Yes.

It's true.

You should train your dog to do it.

I should if I drive my dog.

If he gets.

Okay.

How do you feel about clowns?

I love clowns, thank you.

Fine.

They're happy people.

Not if you ever heard of a sad clown.

It's a thing.

Yeah.

Isn't that the song?

Send in the clowns?

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah.

That's how Gretchen does.

Just brings it down.

Which she's.

As we said, clowns are still.

They're still people.

They're still in there.

You still need love.

Yeah.

I'll tell you.

What you just said, clown.

That's a public service.

And I was right there.

Clowns are people, too.

Doctor.

Your leadership is pouring over.

What is what.

Is your number one most favorite thing?

Or what you consider to be the best thing about Sylvania or the region?

Oh, the people and I would go a step further.

Our student.

Yeah, our students are amazing.

They're philanthropic.

They're kind, they're studious.

They're just well-rounded kiddos.

I would look at them when they are in high schoo and the things they accomplish.

When I was in high school, I was skateboarding.

Yeah.

These kiddos.

Love you.

Yeah.

Skateboarding.

Yeah.

Yeah, they are doing things that are boring.

Oh, it was something that was read and from Kmart.

I'm not sure what.

What's the name brand.

I love it, but yeah, definitely the people in our students.

Thank you.

All right, nine words.

Students ready to order.

A poem.

That's effective in most people.

Oh.

All right.

So number one ask of people.

Yeah.

And obviously the school system one two.

Let's do it.

You've got a few left here.

So is it about the school district or Sylvania.

Sylvania parks for certain.

Okay.

I heard you say Metro parks.

Metro parks too.

Yes.

Metro parks.

I would say, Centennial Terrace.

Love it.

Concerts?

Yes.

Amazing.

You got two words left.

You crushing.

It?

I would say, goodness.

Being.

Downtown.

Downtown?

Yep.

Like our surveying, our mai street and our activities.

Yes.

It's a quaint little spot.

Cute little stores, boutiques, great restaurants.

I love the fall festival.

Yes, I love what we're going to do and bring people over from all over to come to Australia.

I think we've got an answer for the last one.

Cricket, cricket.

Cricket.

Cricket.

So that's the way to close.

Doctor Veronica motley, superintendent of Sylvania Schools.

Thank you.

So thank you.

Thank you for being here.

This was fantastic.

Thank you for having me again.

When we come back, we'll wrap u this Monday edition of the 419 every day when you laugh with us you learned with us a neighbor.

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Welcome back into the 419 wrap up, a mayor Monday edition of the 419.

We took a tour of Sylvania, Ohio with Mark Frye and Doctor Veronica motley.

They were great.

Yeah.

Very good.

Yeah, I've known more for quite some time.

He's a great guy.

And Sylvania has been made better by his leadership and will continue to.

I just I continue to be fascinated by individuals that sort of, you know, see the fire and choose to move into it right now that's, you know, you're, you know, he, was appointed to mayor as the president of city council, kind of stepped into that rol when his predecessor resigned.

And then it was like, yeah, I' still going to run for the city as well.

We've got work to do.

Yeah.

That's right.

Love it.

And of course, Doctor Motley is spectacular.

This is.

Your first time meeting me.

Too.

Yeah.

So what?

Answer.

Yes.

Yeah, she's.

She's great.

I got a chance to meet her, shortly after she started, kind o having some conversations around alumni roles.

Did you work there as well?

I didn't she didn't hire me.

Yeah.

Oh, I didn't bring that up.

I did bring that up.

For the kind of leadership.

Okay, now with the second.

Yeah.

If you missed any part of the show, we get three great opportunities to enjoy at 7 a.m.

on YouTube, 3 p.m.

on FM 91 in Toledo, Brian Defiance and Labor and 6 p.m.

on Wjct connects channel 30.4.

Of course, I keep saying three, but there's like a million.

You can catch it online.org/the 419.

Or you can download the new and improved.

Okay I get choked.

You chec if you want to talk about apps.

Just thinking about.

Yeah that's.

Why it's so new and it's so.

Impressive.

Yeah.

Kevin's father was killed by an apple.

Yeah.

It makes him sad every time.

Every time my dad is alive and well.

Okay.

You know, this is just it.

An app has saved Kevin's dad's life.

Back to life.

Thanks to our guests for being on the show.

And thanks to you for joining us as well.

We'll see you back tomorro for a Tuesday edition of the 419 powered by.

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