Keckler looks back on 12 years

FOSTORIA --- Summertime retirement was good to Eric Keckler, who spent a lot of time playing golf between 2008 and 2012 after a career spent working within the functions of the city of Fostoria. But winters were "tough," he said, without the diversion of working, and as many retirees do, he got restless. Putting his experience in the city's workings forward, he ran for mayor of Fostoria in November 2011. And the office on the upper floor of the municipal building has been his for the last 12 years after having defeated incumbent John Davoli. Two uncontested terms followed the first one. Now, after 42 total years, of city employment, the 62-year-old son of a Fostoria police chief is going to give retirement another go. Next in line Mayor-elect Don Mennel, a current city council member and former president of the Mennel Milling Co., will be sworn in as the new mayor at the Jan. 2 city council meeting. "We've been meeting quite a bit," Keckler said in a recent interview. "We've been talking quite a bit, trying to make sure that he's up to speed on all the projects. "I think from his time on city council that he had a fair bit of knowledge about the projects. But it's kind of like the first time I ran. ... You come in here and you sit in this office for the first time, it's a culture shock, a little bit. There are a lot of moving parts. ... I think we're going to get to the point where he's going to get comfortable with everything." 12 years FOSTORIA MAYOR Eric Keckler listens as a speaker praises his 12 years of work in office during a recent Fostoria City Council meeting. SCOTT COTTOS / the Review Times Keckler said he never envisioned serving four terms as mayor. But now, after 12 years on the job, he believes he's achieved the goal of leaving something better than how he found it, even after having endured a serious financial crisis and an unprecedented worldwide pandemic. "I think that's where we are," he said. "It feels like that's where we are. The financial situation says that's where we are." It's all a long way from Keckler's original retirement in 2008 after 30 years of working in numerous city departments before wrapping up as foreman of the street department and then public works superintendent. An itch remained unscratched, though. "The thing I enjoyed about being in charge of the street department and being in charge of the public works was solving problems for people and planning projects and things like that," he said. "I missed a lot of that. I just missed having to be somewhere other than the golf course. "There was a lot of talk one year about me possibly running for city council. Then I thought, 'For 30 years, I pretty much trained for the job of mayor by seeing how every department works. So, I ran on that premise, with that knowledge, and here I am." Positive momentum built for the city, with paving projects taking place on highways and more to come, as well as the creation of the Iron Triangle Railpark, the replacement of the city swimming pool with a soon-to-be splash pad, the reconstruction at Fostoria Metropolitan Airport after a 2018 fire and the acquisition of a $1 million federal grant to create a forestry department to manage the city's trees. "I thought maybe (I'd serve) four years and see how successful I could be," Keckler said. "Then we started solving problems and having a lot of plans for the future. So, I thought, 'Another term to follow through on those.' Then there was a whole bunch of stuff that was about to pop – the paving projects on the highways and stuff like that. So, I thought, 'Well, I'll do it one more time.' "Then, I went into this one knowing this would be the last time that I'd run. So, now we've got a lot of cool stuff that's accomplished and there's a lot of stuff out there that's going to pop over the next three to five years – some really cool grants and paving projects for the community, so I think I'm going to leave with us in a pretty good place." Keckler said he's worked toward having good results in the community by being visible and involved, both by attending local functions and those outside the city in order to establish relationships. "If somebody was having an event or something special with a business or company, then I always felt that it was my responsibility to be there as the representative of the city to support what they're doing because then they feel the city cares about what it is they're trying to get accomplished," he said. "That takes away a lot of free time, but I always thought that was important – going to those meetings in the county and having good connections in Columbus and having the state legislators' numbers in my phone and (being able) to call. "That's all a big deal. As a team, we really work collaboratively with all of those agencies. And it feels like we've accomplished quite a bit. We have state paving projects that are planned for the next 10 years that are coming to Fostoria. We've got one in (20)25 and potentially in '27 or '28. That's huge for the community." City's "financial emergency" Around the time that Keckler first retired, the city's economy began to take a big hit as industries moved away, city income taxes took a nosedive and the city found itself with a deficit balance of more than $500,000 by 2016. The state auditor's office declared the city to be in fiscal emergency, and it has since been watching its money carefully by following procedural guidelines and gotten closer to having the label removed. "I think there's kind of a misnomer about the whole fiscal-emergency piece," Keckler said. "We actually called the state and asked them to come in and look at how we're doing things because we wanted to make sure that things were done properly. We wanted to make sure that all of our procedures and the way we were doing things were getting done in the right way. We wanted to make sure supervisors were responsible for their budgets and staying within their budgets, and to help them plan their budgets. "I think this exercise with the state really has positioned us into a much better place from where it was as far as being able to provide financial information to people and to city council and to department heads so everybody knows where they are at any given time so they can stay within budget and still provide all the services. So, I think even though it has a connotation of being a negative, in the end, when we come out of this, it will be a positive experience for the community. "A lot of that is thanks to the voters and the faith they have had in what we were trying to get accomplished by passing levies and renewals and things like that, that we were using the money wisely. Now, we're positioned in a great spot for the future of Fostoria, just procedurally in how we do things." The COVID-19 Pandemic Fostoria Mayor Eric Keckler receives a coronavirus vaccination from Impact Health nurse Beth Schnellinger during a state-sponsored mass vaccination at Roppe Corporation headquarters, 1600 N. Union St. Keckler's wife, Anita, also received a shot. SCOTT COTTOS / Review Times Like everyone else in the world, Fostoria's leaders were rookies in handling a worldwide pandemic when it struck in 2020 due in regard to the coronavirus. Quarantines limited people's travel and associations with one another, leading to, at the least, the temporary shutdown of many businesses. In addition to limiting foot traffic in the municipal building and city council meetings taking place via Zoom teleconferencing, then-Safety Service Director Deb Hellman put together a Facebook page on which restaurants could post their menus and information regarding pick-up and delivery. "Deb and I worked together pretty well in getting through all of that and coming out on the other side," Keckler said. "But just keeping up with every-changing rules and how they worked was a lot. "We wanted to make sure, or at least try, that once we got through the pandemic, there was still a decent amount of places still at least surviving in our community. That was one thought we had: How do we support them? Deb set up a Facebook page and we reached out to them and said, 'Hey, do you want to be a member of this? You can post your whole menu on there if you want.' I think that helped, and some are still using it to get their specials out. "I never thought I'd see anything like that. It was pretty scary." Great leadership among department heads Keckler has seen considerable turnover among his department heads during his mayoral terms, and he credits them and their workers for helping the city make improvements over the years. "In my time here, we've been really blessed with some really great leadership, and I don't know if sometimes we say that enough," he said. "We, now and previously, have some really talented people who work for this city. The workforce in the city services, who sometimes you don't hear about, are just a really talented group of people." Of the city workforce, he added: "I'd stack our people up against anybody. ... It's just a very talented, dedicated group of individuals. I think that is something that Fostoria should be proud of – just what a talented workforce we have. They're the ones who make me look good. We couldn't do this stuff without them. I just wouldn't be as successful without them helping me." The next chapter While crediting his wife, Anita, for her patience and support, Keckler said he's largely enjoyed his time as mayor. FOSTORIA MAYOR Eric Keckler and his wife, Anita, look over some of the flowers they take care of along South Street as part of the Adopt-A-Bed program, coordinated by the city's Tree and Beautification Committee and the Fostoria Garden Club. SCOTT COTTOS / Review Times "It has been an honor to represent the city I love as mayor," he said. "Like anything else, it had its ups and downs. I mostly enjoyed my time and helping to plan projects to better the community." He said he's unsure of what his future will look like. "I have been keeping my options open and look forward to what the next chapter brings," he said.