“We were kind of waiting for me to make a decision on whether if I was going to run for school board again or not. About a year ago I was sort of having thoughts about not running for another term,” Michael Berding said.
So Abby Berding, 31, and Michael Berding’s daughter, will seek election on Fairfield City Schools’ board of education. She pulled petitions under Abigail Berding
“I’m ready to put my work in,” said Abby Berding, a Jessie’s Landing resident.
Susan Berding, who is Abby’s step mother, said she’s accomplished what she set to do when she was appointed to the Fairfield Twp. board of trustees.
“When I sought the appointment in 2016, there were a lot of things in this township I was concerned about,” she said.
Susan acknowledges five years in office is a short amount of time, but said, “I think we have a very responsive leadership team when we hear from residents. We get back to them, we respond to them, we answer their questions.”
In five years, the township has replaced an aging fire station, constructed a public works building, developed a roads plan and improved and expanded its parks. The police department expansion and renovation project will wrap up later this year. She also said officials have improved relationships with neighboring communities, like Liberty Twp. and Hamilton, and worked on relationships with county officials.
Now she’ll focus on her career at Procter & Gamble, where she hopes to retire in the next five to 10 years.
Abby Berding said she wants to run for school board because the system “gave me a lot.”
“I’d love to be able to give back to not only the school system but the community that I’ve been a part of my entire life,” said Abby Berding, who attended Bowling Green State University and studied business and economics. “My parents really installed the importance of volunteering and giving back to your community.”
In November, Fairfield City Schools Treasurer Nancy Lane presented a five-year forecast that showed a dropping cash balance and the school’s coffers running into a deficit by 2025.
“We have some financial challenges coming based on the five-year forecast and I think I can help the board by bringing in a new perspective,” she said.
Michael Berding said as a trustee he would be able to capitalize on the relationships he has cultivated over the years, including with state lawmakers, local government officials and business leaders.
But he believes the township needs to focus on its safety services, and would “love to see more full-time firefighters.”
“I think that’s something Susan had started to work on,” he said. “I’d love to have these discussions with the other two trustees and the fiscal officer, and the administrator to say, ‘Are there things that we’ve now caught up on ... can we take some of that money and put it in the fire department?’”
Michael Berding said his daughter isn’t the only one in the family looking to step up their public service, which is something he grew up around.
“It’s what we do as Berdings,” he said. “It’s what we learned, my brother Jeff (Berding) and I, all of our siblings. It just warms our hearts to see the next generation serve as far as public service, not just community service.”
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