Mentor City Council Election 2011 Candidate Profile: Janet Dowling

Editor's Note: As part of Mentor Patch's local election coverage, we will provide profiles of each of the candidates running for office. These profiles will offer biographical and issue-oriented details about each of the candidates to help you, the voters, make more-informed decisions at the ballot box. We also will have a short video of each candidate in which we ask them, "What is the biggest issue facing Mentor and how would you address it?"

Stay tuned for more coverage of the election. 

Name: Janet Dowling

Age: 62

Occupation: Vice President/CFO of Lake County Plating Corporation

Education: 1967 Graduate of Mentor High School, attended Lakeland Community College and Hiram College

Office Sought: At-Large Council seat

Elected Experience:  to serve as Council person at large

Non-Elected Experience: Served on the Mentor Lagoons Planning Committee

Chairman of the committee that circulated petitions that forced Council to televise the Mentor City Council meetings in their entirety, including the persons-before-Council segment that had been removed from the air by a vote of Council

Liaison with the city administration to create the city of Mentor's Annual Classic Car Cruise In for nine years

Appointed two times to the Greater Mentor Port Authority, served as Secretary/Treasurer for both of those terms until I resigned in January 2011 to accept the appointment to the at-large position on Council

Candidate Statement: I love all things "Mentor." My family moved here in 1956 from Willowick and I have considered it home ever since.

When my husband and I purchased my family business from my parents, the first thing that we did was relocate it from Euclid to Mentor. It doesn't get any better than living and working in Mentor.

I have served in many volunteer positions in the City, and I have wanted to move up to the next level, elected office. I consider myself very fortunate to have been appointed in January to fill the at-large seat vacated by Dr. Ronald Micchia.

I appreciate the confidence that President Robert Shiner has placed in me. He had a difficult decision to make, but in the end, I believe that I received the appointment because I was a person with a long record of community involvement and being an owner of a small manufacturing business here in Mentor gives me a unique perspective and skill set. 

In the current economy it is imperative that Mentor be able to retain our existing businesses and create an atmosphere that will draw new businesses to our community.

The competition for these jobs is ferocious, if we want to maintain Mentor as a destination community, we have to provide opportunities for our young people.

Just as so many businesses express frustration about providing training and educating their employees, only to have them depart for "greener pastures," I want Mentor to prosper from the excellent education that we provide our youth, and to be able to offer career choices right here in their home town, not lose them to other communities.

Our incubator program is a perfect vehicle to provide opportunity to young entrepreneurs. I look forward to seeing our first tenant occupy this space.

I want to be an integral part of insuring that Mentor remains a viable, competitive community. In my business, I am a problem solver. I spend most of my day resolving and handling customer questions on quality, delivery and technical support.

I want to use these skills to assist the residents of Mentor in resolving any problems they may encounter in their daily lives. I want to serve as a conduit between the residents and the administration by offering guidance and any assistance that may fall under the purview of Council.

I would like to focus on our incubator program. It has been in existence for several years, and we need to give it a jump start. I feel that the incubator would be best suited to accommodate similarly based businesses. Medical equipment seems to be a good fit; we already have at least two premier manufacturers in this field in Mentor. I feel we would do well to build on that base, but I look forward to working with the administration on any projects that create jobs.

I would like to see Mentor maintain the correct balance of manufacturing, commercial and service industries, while maintaining our superb parks and recreation system that offer something for everyone.

I vow to work tirelessly to deserve the confidence that the voters would show in me if they choose to retain me in my current at-large position.

I want to work towards more transparency in government. I look forward to working with all my colleagues on Council for the betterment of Mentor, putting personalities aside and just rolling up our sleeves to work for the residents.

I care about Mentor and want all of our residents to have the benefit of the same wonderful education, strong manufacturing base, top retail facilities, wonderful Senior citizen facility and about any other amenity imaginable, that I and my family have been fortunate enough to enjoy since 1956.

I want to be part of making Mentor a community where people will want to reside "from cradle to grave" and to be proud to call it home.