Trish Bennett, Editor
ASHVILLE – The man selected to fill an empty Ashville council seat hopes to have a positive impact on the continuing growth of the village.
Randy Loveless, a 22-year resident and recent member of the village’s Planning and Zoning committee, was appointed Monday to fill the council seat vacated upon the recent death of member Jim Mathers. He will serve the remainder of Mathers’ unexpired term ending Dec. 31, 2017.
“I just want to be there to help the community,” Loveless said. “Ashville is starting to grow, and you want to make sure it’s grown properly. You don’t want it to boom all of a sudden and have all kinds of issues. You definitely need growth in a community, but you want to make sure it’s done the right way.”
Loveless is the owner of Loveless Insurance, a full-service insurance agency in Canal Winchester. He and his wife, Melissa, have two grown children, a married son with a 3-year-old child of his own and a daughter who is a freshman at Cedarville University.
“They approached me years ago to serve the village, but my children were small, and with my insurance business and ball games and cheerleading and all that, I just didn’t have the time,” Loveless said. “Now that we’re empty-nesters, we have more time, so I pursued it again.”
Loveless applied for a council appointment once before last November upon the resignation of Glenn Cook. Though current member Dave Rainey was selected to fill that seat, Loveless said he was asked to serve on the Planning and Zoning committee, a position he has held for about three months.
His appointment to council Monday now leaves an empty seat on that committee that will need to be filled by appointment.
Chuck Wise, village mayor, said he believes one of the other two applicants for this council appointment will be asked to serve on that committee. Those applicants were village residents Brad Lutz and Zane Zwayer.
“One of them will probably end up in Planning and Zoning, if not both eventually,” Wise said. “If someone wants to participate in town government, we want to give them that opportunity. I remember at one time Chester Gloyd was the only elected person on council, and everyone else was appointed. I think it’s important to have people who want the positions instead of having to recruit people.”
Wise said he believes Loveless’ business experience will be a valuable asset to the village.
“Being a business person, I think he might be able to bring some wisdom on that end,” Wise said. “We also have a large insurance policy for the village we renew every year that costs us about $15,000, so I would think he would be able to bird-dog that for us to see if we have what we should have.”
Loveless said he is just happy to be able to serve the village that attracted him years ago with its school district and its small-town community feel.
“I look forward to serving the community and helping council and just being there for the people,” Loveless said.
This article originally appeared on The Pickaway News Journal
