Lee sworn in as Wapakoneta mayor
Dec. 30—WAPAKONETA — Wapakoneta's newest chief executive may be a familiar face, but he is ready to start a new chapter for the city.
Dan Lee, who won the Republican nomination for mayor in a three-way race in May and ran unopposed in the November general election, was sworn into office Saturday by city law director Grant Neal. Lee, who has spent the past 14 years serving on Wapakoneta council, replaces interim mayor Steve Henderson. Lee is also a former president of the Wapakoneta Chamber of Commerce.
Henderson had taken over that office after former mayor Thomas Stinebaugh was removed in the wake of charges of having an unlawful interest in a public contract, theft while in office and conflict of interest related to a sewer line that the city installed to a home that Stinebaugh built. Stinebaugh had originally been sentenced to 18 months in prison, but his case was heard in the fall by the Third District Court of Appeals.
Lee did not mention these events in his first address as mayor, but he did pledge to build a transparent administration, noting that public trust in government overall has been waning in recent years.
"A project that starts today is building trust," he said. "In many government agencies, it's been lost. I recognize that. But I will work to rebuild any trust we've lost in government. I feel that trust is not given. It's earned. It's earned by being transparent, earned by displaying ethical behavior and earned by being accountable and demonstrating accountability."
While Lee has great familiarity with the legislative side of city governance from his years on council, becoming mayor represents a new challenge for him as far as creating the overall vision for the city moving forward and learning about the administrative side of things.
"A lot of the aspects that will be new to me is really a lot of the human resources [issues], a lot of those things that, as a city councilor, you just don't deal with," he said. "You don't deal with the hiring and firing, so that will be a new thing for me."
Moving forward, Lee hopes to help foster initiatives that will make Wapakoneta both a more attractive community to those outside the city as well as a healthier place to live for its residents.
"The vision for Wapakoneta is to make it a place where people want to live, to come back to or to stay in," he said. "One of the big things I want is for our citizens to be healthy. To be healthy, I think you need to be exercising. So one of the initiatives is to make Wapakoneta more walkable and bikeable, where you can get out and see people, talk to people and be out in the community. It makes it so much more a pleasant place to be."
Council members Alex Stinebaugh, John Sheipline, Jessica Muhlenkamp, Brandon Miller and Alex Greve were also sworn in during Saturday's ceremony.
Reach Craig Kelly at 567-242-0391.
