Candidate Profile
Name: Jim Armbruster.
Running for: 1st Ward, Middletown City Council; seeking a second term.
Address: 4824 Longford Drive.
Owner: Armbruster Florist. He and his wife Melinda purchased his father’s business in 1980.
Family: The Armbrusters are the parents of three grown children.
Education: 1962 graduate of Middletown High School.
Jim Armbruster’s first term on Middletown City Council has been both difficult and enjoyable for him.
Armbruster, 65, of 4824 Longford Drive, is seeking a second four-year term representing the 1st Ward. If re-elected, he said it will be his final term.
Armbruster said it takes “a good year to two years” for a council member to get up to speed about the workings, factions and functions of city government. He also said it takes time to become knowledgeable about the people who work at the Middletown City Building.
Armbruster said being a lifelong resident of Middletown and a longtime small businessman, he knows the community inside out and knows what it is to survive.
“They say that firefighters and policemen are heroes,” Armbruster said. “I would also add small businessmen because they have to fight and struggle every day.”
Throughout his term, Armbruster, who currently serves as vice mayor, has constantly raised awareness about the blight throughout the community.
He said property maintenance will continue to be a focus over the next four years as the city works to eliminate blight.
“We have to eliminate blight to bring people into the community,” he said.
While he says he has “no regrets,” Armbruster experienced some personal difficulties — particularly with the SunCoke issue — which he said took a toll on relationships in his family that are still being healed.
“We’ve started a lot of projects in the last four years and I want to see them through,” he said.
Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2871 or erichter@coxohio.com.
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