Sitting at the Feet of a Small Town Mayor (Part 2)

(When we last left our heroes, they were sipping Arnold Palmers and laughing at small children playing watermelon ball in the pool…)

Lance Schaubert: You did mention moving up the political ladder at some point?

Mike Bowers: At some point. I’d like to serve three or four terms as mayor. What I’ll do at the end of the third year of every term is look at how affective we’ve been, where we’ve moved forward. If it every appears like it’s growing stagnant, not moving forward, it’ll be time for me to step aside, let new blood in there, let some new ideas come into play and move the community forward. But if at the end of the third year, if we’ve still got things going in a good direction, we’ll stay on that local level. If an opportunity presents itself for state representative where I can still serve my local community, we’ll research that opportunity.

LS: Would you see that progressing to national?

MB: Probably not. The thing we run into in Greenville is that John Boehner is the speaker of the House of Representatives, so I don’t forsee me unseating him in the near future. Plus, I don’t know if I’ll live that long.

LS: At the state level, in light of the benefits of small government, what do you think could curb that rise to power from becoming more important than the reason you began?

MB: Stay true to yourself. I know oftentimes that’s easier said than done, but our current state representative shared that with me when I became Mayor. It makes things much easier for your public and constituents. To try to move outside of that and be something you aren’t is not right. The State of Ohio had a budget crisis from the previous administration. Fortunately our revenues are up, so the State of Ohio has gone up from twenty-ninth best place to do business to fourth or fifth best state, as far as tax structure and all that. We’re moving in a positive direction. We’ve got to keep doing those things, and to cut spending and some services will have to be consolidated at a local level. Government can grow itself as big as it wants to be and when government starts to grow itself to that degree, the only thing that will support that is an increased tax structure, and that can put too much burden on the people.

LS: Some would say that the local church can help lift that burden. In what ways would you say that the local church is the hope of the world – locally, in the state, and on a national level?

MB: Church structures lend a lot… you can probably runs good correlations from the small town country churches to larger churches to even the mega churches being similar in scope to what a state government would be. One thing I’ve noticed is when you start to operate on that realm, you start to put programs out there, which mirrors the world. I think when you go back to small church or country church, even what local governments look like, it’s people helping themselves as opposed to looking to programing to be the answer. On a church level, when people look out for one another, that’s where the “Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship.” Those relationships start to develop and become more important than religion.

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LS: How can that be implemented in, say, New York City where church planters are headed?

MB: In that level, you’re meeting people at their need. You’re meeting people where they are, and I believe that if a church plant is done correctly, you’re there building relationships before you’re trying to supplant your thoughts on top of theirs and bully people or strong-arm people. You’re presenting a relationship to them, getting to know them one-on-one, and that’s when people see Jesus Christ.

LS: I’ll shift gears.

MB: Didn’t know we were on a manual transmission.

LS: [laughs]. Every small town has its eccentricities, so what are some of Greenville’s?

MB: We probably get… we’re small town America. We’re agriculturally based. We’re number one or two every year in agricultural production for the state. People look at those things and see it as a hick town. From an economic standpoint, when farmers are making money, farmers are spending money, and they spend locally. It’s been a great support for our downtown. That’s an important piece for what makes our city grown. Those are the roots you need to stay with – dance with who brung ya. Manufacturing along with agribusiness are the roots we need to stay with, that’s what always made Greenville strong and will continue to. One thing that was nice about that was an ethanol company call the Andersons that brought that in. Very moral, high-integrity company. they were presented with a thing from a national level from the Department of Energy – you might have heard of carbon sequestration, but they try to take this CO2 which was a byproduct/waste product of ethanol production. Federal government was trying to figure out how to spend carbon credits. It was the coal-fire energy production facilities. You’ll hear people talk about clean coal and all that stuff. …We were very fortunate when the national government brought in research from a company called Patell, out of the city of Columbus. They do a lot of great things. One of thing they wanted to do was put the CO2 emmissions down through our single-source aquifer and into the mount simon sandstone. It puts from a liquid into a supercritical state, letting it be pumped. They wanted to take it through our single-source aquifer – which, water is our most valuable resource in any city, county, state. Our aquifer is one of the fastest recharge aquifers in the U.S. There were just some concerns in how they wanted to do that – it seemed like it was getting pushed through. The Andersons, to their credit, just stepped back and waited for things to come to light. They wanted to do some testing to see if the soil would even be amenable to that process, putting charges out in these farmers’ fields. Well, farmers for generations in our county have lived off that land. They know where the drainage systems are because their father, grandfather, great-grandfather knew where it was and it was probably never put on a map, but it’s still there. When they mess with that ground, they mess with their livelihood. It was a perfect example of city, township, county governments working together to say, “we don’t agree with your testing process so we’re not going to allow it unless you can say with 100% certainty that it won’t affect our land or our single-source aquifer.” So when they couldn’t come back with that, it was a done deal. We had trustees, town commissioners, city officials, the state of Ohio all come in for the meeting, ODoT.

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LS: Sounds like an Erin Brockovitch thing you prevent.

MB: Water’s such a vital commodity that if anything goes wrong.

LS: Water table or lake?

MB: Water table – single-source aquifer two-thousand feet down. HUGE if anything becomes contaminated. We’d now be a ghost town. But some company would have gotten carbon credits for slammin’ CO2 under this mount simon sandstone. In concept it’s a good thing to look at. In theory. But to come to a community our size and say we’re going to do this experiment here… we’re not laboratory animals.

LS: Something for out in the middle of nowhere.

MB: That’s not gonna effect…

LS: Thirteen-thousand people.

MB: Yeah. Again, taking this unproven science and trying it on us is not a good thing. Take it somewhere else. Prove your science. Then bring it here.

LS: Yeah. Good Point. Now, did I see a picture of you in drag?

MB: No comment.

LS: [laughs]

MB: Umm… I did dress in women’s clothing to support breast cancer awareness. Yes.

LS: With crutches?

MB: No, this was two years ago. I passed this year.

LS: So the same crew got together?

MB: Different guys. All three years. A couple had a few guys that have done it two out of three times.

LS: Just out of the sheer joy of dressing up like a woman?

MB: Just out of the sheer…

LS: [laughs]

MB: [laughs] …just out of the great cause that it was. In good spirit with everyone. One of the small town things that makes people coming together for that cause something that was good. This year they had over six-hundred participants, because right after they do the “walk a mile in her shoes” where the guys dress up in pink and high-heels, they have a five mile run/walk that had 600+ participants. Great event. Great community. Great cause for breast cancer awareness. Feet never hurt so bad in my life.

LS: You wore heels?

MB: Yeeah. First year I wore these pink boots as Annie Oakley’s younger sister. Black cowgirl outfit, pink high heel boots. Second year they put me in a regular dress with pink high heel Dorthy-from-OZ shoes.

LS: Littered with Sequins?

MB: Yeah, I wasn’t pretty in that one either. Both years I’ve been one of the ugly participants.

LS: Good thing, all things considered.

MB: Yes, my mom’s proud I was a boy. She’d have a very ugly daughter.

LS: [laughs] How easy was it to get away for something like this – like Indiana Beach?

MB: Fairly easy. The nice part about my job, about being raised in Greenville, is family. So I don’t pass on events like this. With today’s technology, I can answer emails and pass on info. I’ve got a great secretary and a safety service director that have the same thoughts for where we need to take Greenville in the future. It’s nice to rely on them. I call him every day.

LS: Smartphones and the whole bit?

MB: Yes. Now if I was only as smart as my smartphone…

LS: Yeah, I remember when I was at Congress the handful being on their two-week recess and I always wondered if that was a true recess.

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MB: I think they get away a bit. There’s so much going on at the federal level. Most people would have a hard time wrapping their hands around it. We’re moving forward with things, and one of the hardest to overcome is the rumor-mill because once someone hears it wrong, they don’t take time to get the facts, then they’re just apt to stir things up, and not taking time to get to the heart of the issue. The nice thing is our new Economic Director. He and I have a nice working relationship, so typically any rumor that’s come about, we’ve already addressed the issue. One thing that helps the most is praying for discernment and wisdom. Fortunately, I have a very good wife that prays for me every day. Prayer covers a lot of areas. I’ve got to look at making decisions that are the best for 13,000 people. God’s been great to me and my family, but also Greenville in that regard.

LS: Ever come into contact with any big names on a governmental level?

MB: I’ve had the good fortune to meet John Boehner a half-dozen times. His legeslative assistant is Ryan Day. Ryan’s very much on top of things. He does a very good job of communicating back. John, being Speaker of the House, doesn’t get a lot of free time. He’s got a friend in Greenville that’s been a very good mentor to me – his name’s Marv Stahman. He’s a retired bank president, customer service, how to take care of people. It’s those type of folks that make it great. Even in his retirement days, Marv still wants to see Greenville move forward. That’s been nice.

LS: That’s great. Thanks for your time.

MB: Thank you for the opportunity to chat.

LS: Yeah man.

In the spirit of the little guy:

[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU4Qf6jo5kM”]


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Quick note from Lance about this post: when you choose to comment (or share this post with your friends) you help other readers just like you.

How?

Well, see, your comments & sharing whisper a few things to those who come after you:

The first is that this site is a safe place to speak up & stay curious. That it's civil. That discussion is encouraged. That there's no such thing as a stupid question (being a student of Socrates, I really and truly believe this). That talking to one another and growing together is more important than anything we could possibly publish. That the point is growing in virtue and growing together and growing wise. That discovery is invention, deference is originality, that we all can rise together. The only folks I'm going to take comments down from are obvious jerks who argue in bad faith, don't stay curious, or actively make personal attacks. And, frankly, I'd rather we talk here than on some social media farm — I will never show ads and the only thing I'm selling anywhere on the site or my mailing list is just the stuff I make.

You're also helping folks realize that anything you & they build together is far more important than anything you come to me to read. I take the things I write about seriously, but I don't take myself seriously: I play the fool, I hate cults of personality, and I also don't really like being the center of attention (believe it or not). I would much rather folks connect because of an introduction I've made or because they commented with one another back and forth and then build something beautiful together. My favorite contributions have been lifelong business and love partnerships from two people who have forgotten I introduced them. Some of my closest friends NOW I literally met on another blog's comment section fifteen years ago. I would love for that to happen here — let two of you meet and let me fade into the background.

Last, you help me revise. I'm wrong. Often. I'm not embarrassed to admit it or worried about being cancelled or publicly shamed. I make a fool out of myself (that's sort of the point). So as I get feedback, I can say, "I was wrong about that" and set a model for curious, consistent learning, and growing in wisdom. I'm blind to what I don't know and as grows the island of my knowledge so grows the shoreline of my ignorance. It's the recovery of innocence on the far end of experience: a child is in a permanent state of wonder. So are the wise: they aren't afraid of saying, "I don't know. That's new: please teach me." That's my goal, comments help. And I read all reviews: my skin's tough, but that's not license to be needlessly cruel. We teach one another our habits and there's a way to civilly demolish an idea without demolishing another person: just because I personally can take the world's meanest 1-star review doesn't mean we should teach one another how to be crueler on the internet.

For three magical reasons — your brave curiosity, your community, & my ignorance:

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