WHEELING – City Council will have a new Ward 3 council representative soon, and in one of the most crowded municipal races this election season, the race for that council seat has four candidates vying for the position.

Current Councilwoman Rosemary Ketchum is not seeking re-election to the Ward 3 seat because she is running for mayor. The four candidates in the race to take over the post this summer include Connie Cain, George Greenbaum, Chris Hamm and Jerome “Jake” Henry.

Ward 3 encompasses the neighborhoods of Mozart, South Wheeling, Center Wheeling and East Wheeling.

Cain is a resident of East Wheeling who has worked in the Ohio Valley and raised her family in the Friendly City.

“I am a 55-year-old mother of three: Joshua, Brittany and LaGara Prayear,” she said. “I have nine grandchildren: Usana, Maddison, Zeya, Sabrena, Mya, Deklyn, Hazel, Kannyan and Wynter. I have been married to Kendall Cain for 17 years (32 years together total).”

Cain has worked for the First Judicial Circuit Public Defender Corporation for 29 years as an administrator for the Wheeling-Weirton offices, covering Ohio, Brooke, and Hancock counties. She also has worked with elderly and disabled people as a second job for West Virginia Choice for the last 14 years.

“I really never considered running for any political seat until the last couple of years,” Cain said. “I have watched aspects of our community decline while not even being considered for revitalization, even though money is available.”

Increasing affordable housing and reducing homelessness will be the top two priorities for Cain if elected, she said.

“I think those are the two biggest issues facing Ward 3 right now, and addressing them will go the furthest in moving Ward 3 in the right direction,” Cain noted. “The biggest challenge facing Ward 3 is increasing safety and affordability. Many residents of Ward 3 are on a fixed income and cannot afford $1,200-a-month rent for some of the new apartment buildings.”

If elected, Cain said she would look at revising the zoning code to allow structures like converted garages and duplexes to be used for housing.

“Also, I want to see that every homeless person is housed and set up with the help that they need, which will also address safety concerns in the ward,” Cain said, noting that her experience living, working and volunteering in the community helps make her a strong candidate for this position on council.

“I know the issues that some of the most marginalized members of our community are facing,” she said. “While it’s important to grow our community, it’s equally as important to consider the needs of lifelong residents.”

Cain added that the city needs to rally behind small businesses.

“I have talked to the small businesses in Centre Wheeling who tell me that they are struggling because of the construction,” Cain said. “I would like for us to do more for them to keep them here during and after the Streetscape project is complete.

“Also, we need to change how the city’s bidding on projects is awarded. Some small companies cannot afford to bid when the city requires the money up front. For example, a project that involves the demolition of 20 structures could be separated into multiple, smaller bids rather than one big one. This would allow local businesses to have a fair shot.”

Greenbaum, 64, is married to his wife, Kim, and the couple resides in South Wheeling. They have four children, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. He indicated that some things he sees taking place in the city lately just make him scratch his head.

“I want to see transparency in the city government,” Greenbaum said. “Some of the current things that have happened very recently make me wonder. My main thing is that in the 3rd Ward, we have more businesses, more employees than a lot of the rest of the city. When we lost (Ohio Valley Medical Center), that’s 650 jobs in the 3rd Ward that are gone. I hear about high-end housing, but I don’t hear about jobs. If you want a vibrant community, you have to have jobs and people to do the jobs.”

If elected, Greenbaum said his top priorities will be transparency and government and job opportunities.

“I have decades of experience running railroads,” he said. “I feel that experience can translate to city government because essentially it is a business. I want to make sure that we treat our citizens equitably. My wife and I have experience with homeless outreach ministry, so I’m aware of a lot of those issues. I also feel that we need to protect the jobs that we have, and through some development ideas that I have for opening up more housing in South Wheeling and in the 3rd Ward, all of those things will be conducive to keeping the jobs we have and moving more people into the 3rd Ward.”

Greenbaum said he put in 27-and-a-half years working with the railroad, working as an engineer and a locomotive troubleshooter. He suffered a permanent disability from his work on the railroads, and he is also a disabled veteran of the U.S. Coast Guard. He said his campaign is focused on unity and bringing people together for a common cause – of making Wheeling and Ward 3 better.

“Throughout my career, I’ve provided leadership in a wide range of areas, from transportation to operations to troubleshooting – including acting as a chief mechanical officer,” Greenbaum said. “I believe this experience has equipped me to understand and respond to the needs of our community, and to understand the operations of city government.”

If elected, Greenbaum said he is determined to build a brighter future for Wheeling – one that prioritizes its people, workers and businesses alike.

Hamm, 66, is married with three daughters. He ran for the office of mayor during the last election, and while he still had a desire to serve on city council, he noted that there was a reason he chose to run for the Ward 3 seat this time.

“Because I’m backing one of the candidates for mayor 100%,” Hamm said. “When I saw that Denny (Magruder) was running for mayor, I definitely didn’t want to run against him. I wanted to support him and felt we could do more if he got elected as mayor and I got elected to city council. That will take out two council members already in there, so it will be like a fresh start in city council.”

Hamm said he believes Wheeling should work hand-in-hand with Ohio County on getting a number of mutual goals accomplished.

“I would like the city’s relationship with the county re-restored, because it’s been damaged for years,” he said. “I believe there’s a great benefit in having that relationship restored. I believe we need a combined central purchasing department for the city and the county as we’re both not that big enough for us to each do our own thing. A central purchasing building where all the departments of the county and all the departments in the city have central purchasing power would save money for the city and benefit both us and the county.”

The city should also help promote downtown businesses more, according to Hamm.

“Shops, restaurants, businesses like banks and law firms, all of that is great and in downtown Wheeling,” Hamm said. “We need to make all of that more known. We also need more housing downtown so people want to live and walk through the city. To achieve that, we need to take old buildings in the city and renovate them for businesses and development. That’s already been done in many places, and we need to continue and expand on that.”

Hamm said he is a candidate who is transparent and who is not running for council to make more money.

“I’m running because I love Wheeling and plan to live here for the rest of my life,” he said. “I want to make this city a better place for grandkids and everybody else. I think this city is worth fighting for, and it’s more important for people to know who they’re voting for, rather than just a name. I’m willing to sit down with anybody and talk about who I am. I’m married, and I have three kids. My wife and I both own businesses in Wheeling, so we know the ins and outs, the goods and bads of having a business in Wheeling. I’m also a man of God. I put God first, family second and everything else has to line up after that.”

Hamm said he believes the city needs to take a new approach to the homeless issue, which he said he views as Wheeling’s biggest challenge today.

“Everybody wants new roads, downtown pavement fixed, lower taxes and old buildings torn down. But what is our main critical problem right now? We have a group of people who have lost their minds and are like zombies in the middle of the night on streets that need help, and we need to find a way to give them that help,” Hamm said. “People need to look at the homeless here in a different way. I don’t look at what’s going on as a homeless problem, I look at it as there’s a major addiction problem. The system is broken.”

Hamm said he would like to meet with state attorneys and all the organizations working with the homeless in Wheeling to rewrite some of the applications for shelters.

“I would like each homeless individual to have a witness when they sign a waiver that says while they are at the shelter, they cannot do any harm to themselves or others,” Ham said. “If the homeless person agrees, maybe we can get 10 days of detoxing. Maybe we could get them to have a mindset that will allow them to reintegrate into society by entering a rehabilitation program.”

Henry, 59, is a resident of Mozart and is also vying for the council seat in the city’s 3rd Ward.

“I am a lifelong resident of Wheeling and Ward 3,” Henry said. “I lived at 24th and Wilson streets until my parents, Herk and Rose Henry, moved the family to Mozart. I still currently live in Mozart with my lovely wife of 36 years, Bonnie Henry.”

Henry is no stranger to public service, as he serves the public – day in and day out – through his job.

“I am the Mobility Manager for Ohio Valley Regional Transit,” he said. “I help arrange transportation for people with various disabilities. Public service is what I do every day. I also worked as a shift supervisor for the WVDOC and a buyer for McGhee Office Supplies.”

Henry for a number of years has had a desire to represent Ward 3 on city council.

“I think the biggest challenges facing our community is the condition of the neighborhoods and the need for more family housing,” Henry said. “I also feel that greater police protection should be a priority. Citizens deserve a safe, clean place to live.”

Winners of Wheeling’s May 14 municipal election will take office on July 1 and will serve four-year terms.