Who will fill the seats?: Village of Theodosia


Robert Bochert

James Brown

Jerry Smith

Randall Unruh

These candidates are running  in contested races in county

The residents whose “profiles” appear on this page are running in Ozark County’s five contested races in the April 3 general municipal election. They are seeking seats on school boards in Bakersfield and Gainesville, village boards in Bakersfield and Theodosia, and the mayor’s race in Gainesville.
Seats are also expiring in other school and municipal boards (see related story, page 1), but candidates in those races are running unopposed, and state law allows government boards to bypass elections when the number of candidates and the number of vacancies is the same.
The Ozark County Times sent brief questionnaires to the candidates in the contested races, asking them to limit their responses to a total of 400 words. The questionnaires asked the candidates about their present employment, their skills and life experiences that qualify them for the positions they seek, the greatest challenges facing the organization they hope to represent, the goals they hope to accomplish if elected and any personal information they wanted to share.
The profiles have been edited to fit the newspaper’s format and, where possible, the edited drafts have been approved by the candidates.

Village of Theodosia

Robert Bochert
Employment: Retired
Skills and life experience: I have served as a trustee on Theodosia’s Village Board  for the past 16 years. I graduated from Union (Missouri) High School and soon afterward,  I enlisted in the Navy. I served on the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt aircraft carrier for four years. After my discharge, I was employed by McGraw Hill Book Publishing Co. in St. Louis; I retired from there. I’ve been a volunteer firefighter for 12 years with the Theodosia Area Volunteer Fire Department.
Biggest challenge facing village of Theodosia: Right now, the biggest challenge is getting our streets fixed; they’re in bad shape due to last year’s heavy rains. That’s something we’re working on now.
Goals you hope to accomplish: My top goal would be to get our streets fixed.  
Personal: Due to my enjoyment of fishing, after retirement I moved to Theodosia with Shirley, my wife of almost 50 years, and our son, Bryan. Although I was born and raised in a small town in central Missouri, I feel a close connection with the people of this community and have an understanding of their wants and needs. I would greatly appreciate being allowed to continue serving on Theodosia’s Village Board to the best of my ability.

James Brown
Current employment: Retired. I have served as a trustee on the village board since 2009.
Skills and life experiences: I graduated from high school in 1963 and two weeks later joined the Marine Corps and served in Vietnam. I attended Carl Sandburg College in Galesburg, Illinois, to become an emergency medical technician and worked eight years with an ambulance. I was a self-employed flooring installer for 30 years. I have served as the District 6 representative on the Ozark County Ambulance Board for about eight years.
Biggest challenge facing village of Theodosia: The town’s biggest challenge is repairing the storm damage to our streets.
Goals you hope to accomplish: Finish the street repairs and keep our equipment updated.
Personal: I’ve been married 33 years to my wife, Shirley. We have three daughters, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Jerry Smith
Current employment: Retired after 19 years as an International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union electrician, 10 years as an electric inspector with Montgomery County Building Regulations Department in Dayton, Ohio, and 15 years as owner of Five Star Service & Inspection doing remodeling, home repairs, electrical, plumbing, well service and home inspections.
Skills and life experiences: I served as a union steward, foreman and general foreman, as chairperson of a fund-raising committee that successfully fought a proposed county landfill. I’ve built a new business, bid projects, done company accounting and worked full-time with employees. I held an Ohio Electric Inspectors License, Ohio Electric Contractors License and Fire Alarm Installation License and was a certified home inspector.
Biggest challenge facing village of Theodosia: The biggest challenge for the village board is making the best decisions to benefit the residents with the limited amount of money available.
Goals you hope to accomplish: I hope to research available grants and government money to improve infrastructure and to build a tornado-shelter structure for the residents and Lutie School students. I also want to encourage new business.
Personal information: I’ve been married to my wife, DiAnn, for 50 years. We have two daughters and three grandsons. We lived in a small Ohio town like Theodosia for 61 years. We’ve been Theodosia property owners since 2005 and full-time residents here since 2012.

Randall Unruh
Current employment: Retired from AGCO Corporation Engineering Department, a farm-equipment manufacturer.
Skills and life experience: I served on my employer’s Manufacturing Standards and Procedures Committee. I worked in helicopter maintenance while serving with the Army in Vietnam. And I’ve served two years on the Theodosia Village Board.
Biggest challenge facing village of Theodosia: We need to work on business growth and street maintenance.
Goals you hope to accomplish: Improving and maintaining our streets while keeping within the village budget.
Personal: My wife, Dianna, and I bought our home here in 2010. We moved here full-time in 2014 after I retired from manufacturing and Dianna retired from banking.
 

Ozark County Times

504 Third Steet
PO Box 188
Gainesville, MO 65655

Phone: (417) 679-4641
Fax: (417) 679-3423