Reynolds ready to take over as Wooster’s mayor
City of Wooster Mayor-elect Bob Reynolds, shown here with his grandchildren, is a lifelong resident of the city. Reynolds will soon take over for Bob Breneman, who is finishing up his fourth term as the city's mayor.
It’s not surprising the direction Bob Reynolds turned when asked where his attention might be focused upon taking over as Wooster’s mayor next week. It’s the same place nearly everyone else is focused: housing.
Reynolds will take over for four-term Mayor Bob Breneman, who did not seek re-election this past November. Breneman oversaw a period of relative prosperity in Wooster and helped guide the town through its corner of the global pandemic at the outset of this decade.
While Reynolds definitely has some things on his mind going forward, wholesale changes are not on the agenda. He listed getting to know the people in the administration and city government among his top priorities.
“Hat’s off to the current administration, both the mayor and (director of administration) Joel Montgomery,” Reynolds said. “Ever since the election and even before that, they’ve been taking me around and meeting with all the departments. Granted I’m not going to say I have everyone down, but give me a year and I’ll have a better understanding on who we’ll be working with. I’ve got a lot more to learn, and everybody has been very helpful. It’s going to be a learning curve for anybody. I think things are going well. We still have a long way to go.”
And while he has no magic mayor’s wand to wave where the housing issue is concerned — there is not enough inventory to serve what has been a steadily growing population — this is not an issue confined to Wooster and Wayne County. It’s an everywhere issue.
“Housing is probably the No. 1 issue,” Reynolds said. “I would guess if you took a survey of all the mayors across the country, that would probably be the No. 1 answer. A lot of the pressures we’re seeing locally are national concerns too. It’s not like we’re the only ones dealing with this.
“I think if we’re seeing people expecting housing prices to fall, I don’t think that’s realistic. It may be on the way down a little bit. I think we can increase the supply. The shortage is for a bunch of reasons, but short of subsidizing the construction costs, there’s not really a lot we can do. We’re working hard to increase the supply.”
On the other side of things, one of what Reynolds sees as Wooster’s strengths — financial stability — is not a strength in every area. In fact, Wooster might be an outlier there. Plenty of municipalities have financial troubles.
Some of that is an aftertaste from COVID. Some is the inflation that has racked the country over the past few years. Wooster has those things, but there seems to be far less concern in terms of dealing with it as in other places.
“The city is on very solid financial footing,” Reynolds said. “We spend a lot of money — there’s no question about that — but the spending is strategic. We have been getting after the infrastructure, the utilities, the streets. Those are big multimillion-dollar expenditures to keep those things up to date. If you don’t stay on top of them, you’re kind of kicking the can down the road. The city has done a good job of getting out in front of that curve.”
Reynolds commended the taxpayers for doing their part by dealing with a now 10-year-old income tax increase. That there hasn’t been another in the interim is a testament to the stability in town.
The mayor-elect said economic development will always be a focus of a local government, and that will still be a focus. The city is not on autopilot but may be as close to that as one can hope.
What Reynolds would like to do to enhance the economic development and stability is enhancing the way decisions in those areas are made.
“On my agenda I want to spend at least the first part of the year gathering some data on database decision-making, not just making decisions on gut feelings, thinking that things might be done,” he said. “We want to be able to say, ‘Here’s my number. Here’s why we need to be doing this.’
“Housing’s going to be a topic that’s part of that. Growth is another part of it. We want to take a strategic look at how we’re growing. I would hope by the end of the year (2024) to have some action plans.”
What Reynolds does not want to do is make changes for the sake of making them. There will be some alterations here and there, but the city did not get in this position because things were being done incorrectly.
“I’m not locked in to doing things the same way Bob did,” the mayor-elect said. “I’ve known Bob most of my life. We’re good friends, but we’re different people. Some people will see me as an improvement; some will wish Bob would have served another term. We’re not going to agree with people on everything.”
Reynolds instead will keep a close eye on things and look for the places that maybe need a fresh coat of paint rather than a complete overhaul. In sports nomenclature, Wooster doesn’t rebuild; it reloads. Reynolds will oversee the reloading.
In other words, at least at the outset, this looks like a pretty good gig. It’s like taking over as chef at a three-star restaurant. Yes, there will be a new menu item or two, but all the favorites that earned that elite status will still be there.
“Things were going well overall,” Reynolds said. “It’s not to say we didn’t have some issues, and Bob Breneman would be the first person to say that. I want to get my feet on the ground before trying to tweak the system or make changes. I want to make sure I get a thorough understanding of what the current setup is.”
Multiple attempts to reach Breneman for this story were not successful, and multiple messages left for the mayor were not returned.