MIFFLIN — Two people have thrown their names in the hat to be Mifflin’s next mayor.
The elected candidate’s term would commence on Jan. 1, 2024, and end on Dec. 31, 2027.
Mayoral candidates include incumbent Vickie Shultz and current councilman Freddie Craig, who is running as a write-in candidate.
Ashland Source contacted Craig and spoke to him about his motivations for being mayor.
Shultz, however, did not respond to three phone calls placed over seven days seeking comment. The email address filed with the Ashland County Board of Elections rendered undeliverable.
Shultz was elected as mayor in 2015 and voters elected her again in 2019 when she beat Craig by 16 votes.
Fred Craig
Craig, 66, has a long history with the village. He moved there with his family in 1969.
He now lives on Ohio Street with his wife, who since 2022 also serves on the village’s council. They have two children together.
He was first elected to council in 2002. He became mayor in 2012 and served through 2015, when Vickie Shultz was first elected. Craig then ran against Shultz in 2019 but lost by 16 votes.
Craig was elected to serve on council in 2021, the same year his wife, Philene, began her term.
Top of mind for Craig is getting the village’s sewage facility fixed permanently. The facility, installed in 2017, received 122 violations from the Environmental Protection Agency between Jan. 1, 2017 and Aug. 1, 2019.
In May 2021, the facility dumped 5,000 gallons of sewage into an unnamed creek after the facility’s electricity went out. The incident caused the EPA to investigate the matter.
Now, Craig said the facility needs a filter that catches trash and items that are flushed in toilets that ultimately make their way into the sewage system.
“This is all needs to be fixed or at some point the EPA will be charging us money. We’re throwing money at it, but it’s not getting fixed,” he said.
The EPA investigation, along with other issues regarding stipends for mayors and council members, prompted Craig to file a petition to recall Shultz in June 2021.
The recall effort failed because the Ashland County Board of Elections did not certify the issue for the November 2021 ballot, citing an opinion issued by Ashland County Prosecutor Chris Tunnell. He said state law does not provide a way for communities like Mifflin, a village, to recall their elected officials.
Craig, a retired plumber, said his priorities include getting on the right track with its sewage facility and getting a park for the village of 132 residents.
Legal battles
Craig’s tenure in public office in the village has not come without its issues.
He was arrested and jailed in January 2022 after being charged with menacing by stalking. The charge, ultimately dismissed, stemmed from an alleged neighborly feud between himself and Joyce Amos — a former councilwoman.
Amos has since been suspended and expelled indefinitely from office.
A year after Craig’s criminal case was dismissed, he filed a civil case against the village, its mayor (Vickie Shultz), former councilwoman Joyce Amos, Mifflin police Chief Jerry Snay and the village’s police department.
The civil suit alleges Snay’s arresting of Craig was “illegally politically motivated” and claims the “false criminal charges carried a jail sentence and exposed (Craig) to the potential loss of freedom.”
It went on: “The acts of the Defendants were unconscionable and offended the bounds of decency. Defendants knew or should have known their acts would cause the emotional distress, mental anguish, embarrassment, anxiety, fear and humiliation to (Craig).”
The lawsuit, filed in the Ashland County Court of Common Pleas in June, is ongoing and has not been resolved, according to court records.