On Independence Day, Jeff Garvas symbolically signed his nominating petitions and declared his candidacy as a completely independent candidate for the Macedonia City Council.
Despite the fact that our city’s elected positions are non-partisan, Jeff believes that we’ve been divided into a two-party system for far too long: there is the group that is opposed to whomever the Mayor might be, and there is the group that is in favor of the current Mayor. Jeff strongly feels that these two so-called “political parties” have created a culture of hatred, rancor and divisiveness that we as a community must move on from. He strongly feels that the Macedonia City Council should be a body of independent individuals that respect each other and work toward a consensus through legislative compromise.
Jeff feels that now, more than ever, we need candidates for the Macedonia City Council that choose to be in favor of the citizens and future of Macedonia, independent of any business interests, political friendships, cliques or agendas.
Unlike other candidates running in this and in prior elections, Jeff will not band together with others and tell you whom else to vote for, like a political party would. He feels that council candidates colluding and endorsing each other before the ballot is finalized should serve as a red flag to the voters of Macedonia, because it shows that political allegiances already exist or are being established. Although he has never held an elected office, Jeff created a statewide grassroots political organization and has spent the last eighteen years working in the Ohio Statehouse. He serves or has served on the boards of many non-profit organizations. If elected to the Macedonia City Council, he will use his experience in forming public policy at the Ohio Statehouse and his decades of volunteer community service to approach every proposal before the council with an open mind – not a preconceived agenda.
If elected, Jeff would continue to offer innovative contributions and ideas, such as how we could have re-written parts of Issue 3 into our existing reciprocal tax credit based system, an idea he attempted to get the council to adopt before May’s election.
Jeff Garvas is a 15-year resident of Macedonia, where he and his wife, Lori (Schultz), built their home and are raising their daughter Jessica, a sixth-grader at Lee Eaton.
Jeff met Lori, who was raised at the corner of Driftwood and Shepard and attended Nordonia High School, in 1998 at what was then the Northfield Center Fire Station, during an EMS protocol review meeting. Both were volunteering for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s MS150 Bike Tour, formerly known as Pedal To The Point. Jeff currently serves on the MS Bike Committee and has coordinated bicyclist support & EMS dispatching for the ride going on 25 years, while Lori volunteers as a registered nurse.
Jeff invites you to explore his campaign website and learn more about who he is and to share.
