In 2011, Winkler defeated Humphries, 62.7 percent to 37.3 percent, or about 500 votes. Winkler was unopposed when he ran for re-election in 2015.
The mayor of Carlisle serves a four-year term and is paid $7,200 a year.
Winkler, 66, said he enjoys working with people and wants to help them do their best.
“I don’t take my position lightly just because I have a title,” he said.
During the previous term, the village paid off the bonds for the infrastructure improvements at the Carlisle Business Park three years early. He said this will save the village about $30,000 in interest payments. The village also built a badly needed salt barn for its public works crew.
“I like how the community is starting to turn more positive and that things are getting better and our finances have improved,” Winker said. “We have a new school going in and we’re addressing issues - that’s a positive. I’m not ready to quit just yet and I enjoy doing this a lot.”
MORE: Read more on the candidates on the Journal-News Voter Guide
Winkler was initially appointed to complete the last six months of another council member’s term and served eight more years on council before being elected mayor in 2011.
If elected, he wants to recruit veterans to raise the funds for the proposed village veterans memorial.
The Janet Avenue resident also wants to improve security by expanding the police department so that there are at least two patrol officers on the streets for all three shifts.
“We’re a training ground for cops and many leave and go to other neighboring cities,” he said. “Our community is growing rapidly and our volunteer fire department needs help to be available 24 hours a day and not 16 hour a day. We will have to address fire protection as well.”
Winkler said mutual aid is great to have, but “we need to take care of our own if we can. We want to be able to respond to help people.”
Humphries, 51, of Park Drive, did not respond to email and text requests or phone calls seeking information about his candidacy for mayor this year.
After Humphries was defeated in 2011, he has ran unsuccessful races in 2013 and 2015 before winning a four-year term back on Carlisle Village Council in 2017. Humphries was fourth in a five-way race that included a write-in candidate that he beat by 43 votes in 2017.
Humphries’ previous four-year term as mayor included a controversy, an attempted recall and court actions. He was exonerated in 2010 of charges that he downloaded 224 sexually explicit photos onto his city-owned computer after a forensic examination of the computer showed the images were created prior to him taking possession of it in January 2008.
In 2009, Humphries faced felony and misdemeanor charges stemming from an alleged road rage incident during which he reportedly threatened an 18-year-old motorist with a souvenir Cincinnati Reds baseball bat. Those charges were later dropped.
In 201o, Humphries also filed a $6.5 million civil suit, the equivalent of Carlisle’s general fund budget for one year, against the village in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati. He alleged city officials and others engaged in a civil conspiracy against him and sued for defamation, libel, slander, false light, false and malicious prosecution, wrongful interference with employment, breach of contract, negligence, abuse of police powers, unlawful search and seizure, federal civil rights violations and civil conspiracy.
The case was dismissed in 2013 as having no merit. His case eventually moved to the U.S. Sixth District Court of Appeals in Cincinnati where the lower court’s decision was affirmed in February 2014 in favor of the village. The village incurred legal costs of about $400,000 defending itself in the federal courts, according to previous news reports. His federal lawsuits also were a factor in higher premiums for the village’s liability insurance for a period of time.
Randy Winkler
Age: 66
Employment: Vectern Energy Delivery of Ohio
Family: Married; three grown sons; two granddaughters; two grandsons; and one great-granddaughter
Residency: 56 years as a village resident
Other: Appointed to Carlisle Village Council in 2003; Elected to full council term in 2003 and re-elected in 2007; Elected mayor in 2011 and re-elected in 2015; retired from the chain crew for the Carlisle High School football program after 42 years; member and past president of the Carlisle Booster Club; volunteered with community pee-wee football program
Education: Carlisle High School graduate
Tim Humphries
Age: 51
Family: Single
Residency: Lifelong resident of Carlisle
Other: Carlisle mayor, 2007-2011; Carlisle Village Council member, appointed 2005 to 2007; re-elected to council seat in 2017; Has volunteered for various community organizations
Education: Carlisle High School
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