Jones faces Valdez in rematch for Blissfield village president

BLISSFIELD — When voters in Blissfield head to the polls Tuesday, Nov. 3, they will see a very familiar race for the village president seat.

Incumbent President Bob Valdez is challenged by former village president A. Ray Jones. It was just two years ago that Valdez — then a trustee on the village council — unseated Jones for the presidency.

Bob Valdez

Since 2012, Valdez has been a member of the Blissfield Village Council. He served as a trustee from 2012 to 2018 then as president the past two years.

Valdez is a retired state of Michigan employee. He regularly serves as a substitute teacher in the Madison and Tecumseh school districts and also works on a part-time basis at The Legacy By Arthur Hills Golf Club in Ottawa Lake. He is a lifetime resident of the Blissfield community and a graduate of Siena Heights University.

He and his wife, Kathy, owned and operated the downtown Blissfield ice cream business Cakes ’N’ Shakes. The couple sold and retired from the business toward the end of 2019.

As a business owner in the downtown district, Valdez said he hopes to see a continued increase in businesses in Blissfield.

He said some of his major accomplishments during his tenure as president include hiring the village’s new treasurer, Brandon Hudson, and Downtown Development Authority director, Heather Marks; completing the construction of the Blissfield Aquatic Center; and working with the village council on remaining fiscally responsible to village residents.

The coronavirus pandemic has not made the his first couple of years on the job any easier.

“When COVID hit, that created another challenge that our council needed to hurdle,” he said in an interview. “Local governments have needed to adapt to the virus, and I would say we have done a good job in doing that. We have also been affected by COVID. Financially, it has affected us.”

Valdez pointed to declining sales tax numbers in the community as well as declining water consumption rates as direct results of the pandemic.

When he first took the seat as village president, Valdez said he became increasingly aware of the financial hole the village was in when it came to operations at the Blissfield wastewater treatment plant.

As of late, residents have seen an increase in their monthly water and sewer bills. That, Valdez said, is due to necessary funding for several much-needed repairs and maintenance items at the wastewater treatment plant that previous councils and administrations delayed taking care of.

Valdez said the village continues to spend money on correcting budgeting errors dating back several years in village financial records.

A forensic audit that was completed for the village found more than $50,000 in village monies were not accounted for properly. This error in accounting, he said, dates back to when he was a trustee.

“Such oversight like this is unacceptable,” he said. “We have spent a lot of money fixing errors in the village that date back to previous leadership.”

Nearly $26,000 has been spent with auditors and other financial advisers.

As for the wastewater treatment plant, the village has been fined $5,000 by the state for being in violation for not having the plant up to code.

“This is money that could have been spent on other things in the village but is now being spent to clean up and correct errors brought on by previous leadership,” he said.

Before further improvements are made, Valdez said the council’s top priority is to be fiscally up-to-date.

“We also need to be up front and honest with our residents,” he said, adding that tough decisions about the budget will need to be made.

A long-term idea that Valdez brought up include the creation of nature, walking and biking trails.

A. Ray Jones

Jones, a 42-year resident of Blissfield, said he is running for the presidency once again because the current council has a lack of leadership and is very unorganized.

“I think we need a stronger presence in the president’s chair,” he said in an interview. “I think we also need to see a much more organized council.”

Jones served for more than 20 years total on the Blissfield Village Council, which he said is a credit to his knowledge of small-town government and how meetings are handled and should be conducted. He served as village president from 2014 to 2018. He was also a planning commission member and is currently on the village council as a trustee.

His ability to operate a smooth and professional meeting are what sets him apart from his opponent, he said.

“I have done this before and I have a lot of experience,” he said. “The president gets to run the meeting and, frankly, over the last year and a half, these village council meetings have been terribly out of control.”

While Jones said he understands that village residents are unhappy with the increase in water and sewer rates, not much can be done about that right now.

“The village council does not get a break from paying these same exact rates as the residents,” he said. “Even I will have to pay these rates.”

Jones is the owner of FWB Inc. of Toledo, a professional surveying company. He has owned the company since 2007 and has worked there since 1992.

He is a graduate of Whitmer High School in Toledo, and he attended the University of Toledo where he took several engineering courses.

Besides bringing some needed leadership to the village council, Jones said he wants to see Blissfield prosper.

If elected president, Jones said he would work very well together with Blissfield’s different governmental boards.

“I will be as helpful as I can in working with each of these committees, and providing whatever response I can in order to do something beneficial,” he said.

The main reason for Jones’ running for village president could not be any clearer.

“Leadership,” he said. “This current council and president lack that. I can bring leadership back to Blissfield.”