4 city commission candidates offer insight

SANDUSKY — Ahead of the Nov. 4 election, four of the five Sandusky city commission candidates gathered Wednesday morning at St. Mary Central Catholic High School to answer the community's most pressing questions. In front of nearly 300 junior and high school students, these hopefuls debated a variety of issues for an hour. This entire debate was recorded and is available for on-demand viewing at the Register's YouTube channel and at sanduskyregister.com. This year's debate series is, once again, sponsored by the Greater Sandusky Partnership. The commission race has five contestants vying for three seats with four-year terms given to each winner beginning in January: Patricia Ferguson, Gregg Peugeot, Tim Schwanger, Tom Tucker and Luvada Wilson. Due to an illness, Schwanger could not attend Wednesday's event. No incumbents are seeking re-election: Dick Brady and Dennis Murray Jr. can't run because of term limits, and Steve Poggiali won't attempt to win another four years in office. Murray, meanwhile, provided an introduction during Wednesday's debate. There are four city commission members — Jeff Krabill, Richard Koonce, Kate Vargo and Dave Waddington — whose seats are not up for election this term. They will continue their duties on the board until their terms expire in 2027. Students in Steve Kohler's social studies class powered the debate. They were responsible for writing and asking candidates questions on topics important to them and the other district stakeholders. A variety of topics were addressed, including those on housing, leadership abilities, work balances, traffic congestion, collaboration with Erie County commissioners, their long-term vision for Sandusky, job development, youth recreation, construction programs, the Sandusky State Theatre, year-round tourism and more. One student sought insight, specifically, on how each candidate, if elected, would work together with other commissioners in the most difficult of circumstances. The question: If you were to disagree with another commission member, how would you handle it without stalling progress? Here's how the candidates responded in the order of when each spoke: • Wilson: With any relationship, communication is the key. So you keep talking and you get all the facts that you can, and then you make a decision. And once that decision is made, the majority has won, you continue to move forward. • Ferguson: I believe that — just like any relationship, household, moms and dads and children — they are going to disagree. But you talk it over. And you try to come to a middle (ground) where everybody is happy. • Peugeot: The job that I have as a lawyer, and as most lawyers do, there is disagreement in almost every case that I have. You also tend to work with a lot of those people over and over again. This is something I deal with on a regular basis. The key is hearing the other side out and explaining why you are making decisions that they disagree with so that they understand. • Tucker: A lot of my career was (spent) with school boards. I have a lot of experience, being a superintendent, so you would work with school boards, and there is a lot of disagreement on school boards. You listen to (people). You work through (the disagreements). Compromise is a key. Sometimes, today, that is a challenge. But comprise and listen and then working as a team to know you are doing everything for the better going forward. You are going to disagree. That is going to happen. Debate series ends ... for now Wednesday's debate at St. Mary Central Catholic High School marked the final debate in the fall 2025 in-schools debate series overseen by the Register and sponsored by the Greater Sandusky Partnership. Full records of the events are also available on the Register's YouTube channel. Other debates in this election cycle involved those seeking seats for Edison's school board, Perkins Township's trustee and Sandusky's school board. The Register intends to, once again, host debates in 2026 ahead of the primary and general elections.