A new face will be joining Galion City Council’s meeting on Tuesday evening. After officially starting her term on June 2, 1st Ward Council Member Sarah Capretta will attend her first formal council meeting June 10.
Capretta will be the third 1st Ward council member since June of 2013. There are seven city council seats, three of which are at-large and four of which are ward seats, one for each of the four wards. As a member of council, Capretta will also serve on the Police, Fire and Health Committee as well as the Parks, Recreation, Streets and Tree Committee. Her term expires on Dec. 31, 2015.
A self-described “doer,” Capretta said she is excited to bridge the gap between talking about community improvement ideas and actually executing them.
“Everybody just wants to complain about the way that they would do something or how it should be done differently, or that we’re not doing what needs to be done,” she said. “I think bridging that first is the main thing, having people feel like they can approach anybody and say, ‘I’ve got this great idea.’ I always tell my husband don’t complain about it, go out and do something about it.”
Capretta’s proactive attitude got her involved as a Girl Scout troop leader almost three years ago, when 40 girls wanting to join the Scouts needed a leader. It also helps her juggle the busy schedules of her four children who are all involved in sports.
Galion Mayor Tom O’Leary said he is excited to have Capretta on council not only as one of three women on council, but also as the youngest member. He said keeping a generational balance is crucial to the community’s future.
“For a long time it was the people who are now 70 and older who held on to the throttles of power,” said O’Leary. “In terms of who is in charge of this community, it’s critical to find people in their 20s and 30s and 40s and provide opportunities for them to get into leadership.”
O’Leary said Galion is consciously trying to tap into younger residents for their perspectives and their visions for the future. He noted the older generation tends to be “stuck” in the mindset of either wishing they could move out of Galion, or feeling they need to apologize for the city not being what it once was.
“I’m not much of a golfer, but there’s a notion in golf that you play the ball where it lies,” said O’Leary. “Younger persons are more inclined to say, it is what it is, how do we make them better? They aren’t captured by how it was in the 60s because it doesn’t really matter. That’s one of the clear advantages of getting different generational perspectives.”
For Capretta, who only moved to Galion in 2005, her vision for the city is only moving forward. She said one of her biggest goals is to motivate the people of Galion to get more active and involved.
“I’ve worked retail, I worked at Family Video and Rite-Aid and now at Poland Hardware so I have met probably three quarters of Galion at one of those places,” she said with a laugh. “I would hope people would feel comfortable coming up and addressing their concerns. I like to talk to people, and I’m a very approachable person. I don’t want people to hesitate to come up and talk to me if they have something they feel is beneficial.”
Galion City Council meets every second and fourth Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Galion City Hall, 301 Harding Way East in Galion.
