CATLETTSBURG — This is the second of two stories about the candidates for Catlettsburg City Council. Today: Ronald Peterman, Charles “Randy” Salyers, Stephen “Jeremy” Spears, Ronald “Kevin” Stanley, Tim Thompson, Donald Wellman, Julius “Dee” Young. Monday’s story included: Charlie Caperton, Fred Childers, Jimmie Epling, Sue Groves, David Marushi.



Candidates in the race for Catlettsburg City Council said a range of issues have motivated them to seek office.

Thirteen candidates have filed for office, including five of the six incumbent council members.

Following are the views of six of the 13 candidates on their reasons for joining the race and their goals for the city.

Randall Peterman

Randall Peterman, 52, says he is seeking his fifth term as a councilman to see Catlettsburg “move right along.”

“We’re getting a lot of work done on our parks, getting several streets blacktopped. We’re moving right along. Catlettsburg is probably in better shape then they’ve ever been,” Peterman said.

Peterman, also a member of the Catlettsburg Park Board, said he will continue to work toward upgrading the city’s parks and infrastructure. He has spent time working as a volunteer on the Oakland Avenue Park, which is being renovated.

“I’m going to push these parks further to get them all fixed up and redone so the kids can use them,” he said.

He said he’d also like to see the city continue to replace its aging infrastructure, including sidewalks and sewer lines. “I’d like to see us condemn some more old rundown buildings in town, get them cleaned up,” he said.

Stephen “Jeremy” Spears

Stephen “Jeremy” Spears, 33, said he thinks he can bring a new perspective to the council. “I grew up in Catlettsburg. I know where the town has been and we could do some things to make the town better,” he said. “I’m younger, too. I’ve got a little bit of a different look at things versus members in the past.”

Spears, a volunteer firefighter with the city’s fire department, said he would also like to see the Gate City capitalize on its historic heritage. Many other Kentucky towns are fixing up their historical buildings and storefronts through programs such as Main Street, and Spears thinks Catlettsburg should follow suit.

He said he’d like to see more business come into the city, especially in light of new housing being developed near Catlettsburg’s western underpass. Spears said the city also needs to encourage restaurants to locate in the downtown area in order to serve employees and visitors to state and county offices.

He said he would also continue efforts to “make the city clean and neat looking.”

Ronald “Kevin”

Stanley

“There are a few things in Catlettsburg I would like to see get done,” said Ronald “Kevin” Stanley, 44, on his reasons for seeking election to council.

Topping his list is cleaning up the train tunnels and bridges in town. He also advocates for a local option election to limit alcohol sales in Catlettsburg to the downtown precincts. “I think Catlettsburg ought to vote on that issue. We’ve got them selling beer right next to our school,” he said.

His priority, however, “is to get the parks fixed up for the kids, for the families.” Stanley said he would also like to see the city utilize its stretch of riverfront. “The river is the only asset that Catlettsburg’s got,” he said.

Stanley said he would like to see a park established behind the floodwall near the mouth of the Big Sandy River. “It’s a good place to take your family to see the river. They could fix it up. It would be a real asset to Catlettsburg and it’s the only thing we got.”

Tim Thompson

Tim Thompson, 48, is seeking his second term on the council. Developing the city’s riverfront into a public park has been his priority and will continue to be, he said.

“For two years I’ve tried to do something with this riverbank down here and everyone seems to be scared to death of the lawsuit with McGinnis (Inc.). I still plan to make that into a public park. I will definitely do it. I’m too stubborn not to,” Thompson said.

Bringing new businesses to town, he said, is an uphill battle but the city needs to continue doing all it can to attract businesses, including seeking grants to revitalize the downtown. “They have a Main Street program now and money has been pretty limited. Maybe we could try to get some more money for people to upgrade their buildings,” he said.

Thompson said getting the parks renovated and sidewalks fixed are also priorities. “I think we need to spend money in the right places,” he said. “They had the money at one time to redo these sidewalks, and I don’t know what happened to that money.”

Donald G. Wellman

Donald G. Wellman, 73, said he thought his days in Gate City politics were over when he resigned as mayor in January.

“I wasn’t going to get back into politics,” he said, “I had so many citizens here in town who called me or saw me out and asked me to run again for mayor. I didn’t want that, but I did finally give in and said I’ll run for city council.”

Wellman said he doesn’t have specific priorities if elected to a two-year council term but would like to be a part of ongoing efforts to demolish dilapidated buildings and cleaning up the city’s appearance.

“As mayor, I know the problems of the city,” he said. “I started some things up here that went along pretty good. I just want to be a part of finishing up some of this stuff.... I think people can see what we’ve done in the City of Catlettsburg. I don’t want to take the credit for it, but I think I was instrumental in starting to get the town cleaned up. You can see what it looks like now and it looks pretty good,” he said.

Wellman also praised the large field of candidates, saying it was his hope all along that changing the city’s election format would result in more residents seeking public office.

Julius “Dee” Young

Julius “Dee” Young, 76, said he feels he has accomplished a lot during his time on council and wants to continue his efforts. Young was appointed to the city council by former Gov. Ernie Fletcher following the resignation of a councilman last spring. He was later unopposed in a special election to finish out the term.

Young said the biggest challenge he sees facing the city is meeting state and federal mandates to comply with the Clean Water Act. “I would like to continue working on the sewage upgrades until we get into compliance with the state,” he said. “We are under a consent decree right now. We are looking at some serious fines if we don’t get that done.”

He said paving streets is also a priority.

“I will also assist Marathon (Petroleum Inc.) in any way I can in their efforts to expand their marine terminal operations in Catlettsburg,” Young said.

Charles “Randy”

Salyers

Candidate Charles “Randy” Salyers could not be reached for comment despite numerous attempts to contact him over several days.