Ravenna City Council swearing in 2 new members

With just a few weeks left before the start of a new year, two men are preparing to begin their first terms as elected officials.
William “Pig” Van Cleve, 73, of Elm Street, and Louis Officer, 71, of Daniel’s Addition, ran on the ballot for Ravenna City Council and on Nov. 6 were elected to fill two seats, one of which was vacant.
Van Cleve took the lead in the polls with 186 votes, more than 17 percent of the overall vote, while Officer narrowly defeated the other candidates with only 106 votes.
Councilman Danny Crowe chose not to run for reelection last month. Councilman George Crowe, who did run for reelection, was defeated after serving on the council for 10 years.
Van Cleve and Officer, men with very different backgrounds and personalities, first got  to know each other while serving jury duty together.
“We got in a trouble a lot for talking while serving on the jury,” Van Cleve said.
The men, who have become friends, cite similar reasons for running for city council and each admitted the road ahead may be tough but they are ready to serve their neighbors to the best of their ability.
Van Cleve said his primary reason for running for council was to make changes.
He said his focus is on doing what it takes to lower taxes in the city. According to information Van Cleve cited, Ravenna has the fourth highest insurance premium rates, the fifth highest real estate taxes and the third highest motor vehicle taxes in the state.
He said he has previously addressed the council with this information and wasn’t please with his response.
“The taxes in our city are too high,” he said. “We need to find a way to lower the taxes. I’m going to look over everything and try to find out where all this money is going.”
Officer said lowering taxes is also his primary goal as councilman.
He has lived in Ravenna all his life and said he’s seen nothing but increased taxes since he was old enough to remember.
“[The council] keeps raising taxes and they don’t try to cut the budget,” he said. “I see some cuts that can be made.”
Officer said he hasn’t established any goals outside of working to lower taxes, but that he believes some new faces on the council will do the city some good.
“The same people have been on the council for forever,” he said.
Van Cleve, who was born in Wolfe County but has lived in Ravenna since 1962, said he is also concerned that the tax dollars aren’t going to increase or enhance services offered to the citizens of Ravenna.
He said he would like to see more police presence and cleaner streets among other things.
“I think there’s too much concentration put on the park in Ravenna,” he said.
He said he believes this attention could be directed to better serving the people he will soon represent.
Van Cleve and Officer have been actively attending council meetings for the last several months, allowing both men to become familiar with the procedures, the personalities and the pitfalls of the current council.
They said they aren’t sure how easily they will mesh with the four returning councilmembers, the mayor or the city clerk. But, they are willing to do whatever it takes to make a difference.
“We have to go in there and make our stand,” Officer said.
Van Cleve said he’s been preparing for his term by brushing up on Kentucky’s open meeting and open record laws. His understanding of these laws has made him aware of how a public meeting should conducted and how councimembers should behave.
Officer served in the United States Navy for more than 20 years and said his employment background will be the beneficial to his term as a councilman. His time as state commander of the American Legion will be most beneficial, in his opinion.
“I had 32,000 people under me,” he said. “I worked on the state level and the national level.”
This experience will allow him to lead the people of Ravenna to the best of his ability, he said.
Officer and Van Cleve said they want to work hard to please the people who elected them to their positions.
“I want them to know I’m looking our for their interests,” Officer said. “I appreciate their votes and I’ll do my best to uphold their respect.”
Van Cleve said he did a lot “politicking” while he was running for office and was pleased to find so many kind people in Ravenna.
“I knocked on a lot of doors,” he said. “No one ever spoke an unkind word to me. I appreciate how kind and helpful people were when I was running for office.”
Van Cleve and Officer will be sworn in as councilmen at 10 a.m. on Monday, Dec. 17, at Ravenna City Hall.
They will begin their term as councilmen at the first regularly scheduled meeting of the Ravenna City Council in January 2013.