WATCH: Perkins Township candidates debate

A primer on Perkins candidates • Wednesday — Jim Ommert • Thursday — Alexis Koch • Friday — Diane Schaefer • Today — Jeff Ferrell PERKINS TWP. — Ahead of the election on Nov. 7, Perkins Township candidates vying for trustee and fiscal officer seats clued community members in on their issues and platforms. On Wednesday, Perkins High School played host to the in-schools debate program overseen by the Register and Reflector this campaign season. The series, sponsored by BGSU Firelands, offers local candidates seeking political offices an opportunity to express their stances on many topics. People can watch the debate in its entirety at sandsukyregister.com or on the Register's YouTube channel. Perkins High School students in government classes worked with their social studies teacher, Craig Wessels, to develop questions, which powered this event. Both the Register and students asked questions — which sought insight into each candidate's stance on traffic congestion near Perkins High School, public transportation, taxes and community involvement, among other topics — with those running providing their candid responses. Among the questions asked: "If you were to suddenly receive a $1 million grant with no strings attached, what would you do to better our community?" Here are excerpts from the responses to that question from each candidate. Answers are listed in the order of who responded first: Fiscal officer • Challenger Alexis Koch: I would suspend property tax rates for a little bit of time, and I would invest $1 million into the township with our parks and recreation, with our housing and with our roads. I know a $1 million might sound like a lot, but the office deals with multimillions of dollars, so it wouldn't necessarily go (that) far. But I believe it would make a difference. • Incumbent Diane Schaefer: I would probably invest it in some big projects that the county won't provide for us. There are a lot of infrastructure issues. Financially, $1 million — when you are talking about a $25 million budget — isn't going to go very far. But there are road projects, (and) there are water line projects that we can accomplish with that $1 million that would have a big impact on the township. Trustee • Incumbent Jeff Ferrell: I would partner with Serving Our Seniors, and I would take that $1 million and try to invest it in housing for our senior citizens. It doesn't have to be elaborate housing but suitable and safe. The other thing that I would do is take that $1 million and invest it into a large sidewalk project. It would make Perkins Township an even more safer and walkable community. Either one would benefit Perkins Township and its citizens greatly. • Challenger Jim Ommert: I would take it and invest in improving some of our poorer area's homes. We had a lady at one of the last township trustee meetings who is losing her home because it is becoming unserviceable. And she didn't have anybody to fix it. I would take that $1 million and put it in a fund, just for that, to improve people's homes that are (lower-) income people and improve our neighborhoods with that. Context on the races In Perkins Township, there are four elected offices: three trustee seats and one fiscal officer seat. This fall, two incumbents, trustee Jeff Ferrell and fiscal officer Diane Schaefer, are up for re-election. Each faces an opponent in this election cycle: trustee candidate Jim Ommert and fiscal officer candidate Alexis Koch. Whoever receives more votes for that particular office wins a four-year term beginning in 2024. The winning trustee will join incumbents Tim Coleman and Jim Lang, whose terms aren't up for another two years.