County Commissioner Candidate Shares Stance on Issues

Vicki Kline, democratic candidate for Portage County Commissioner said her experience and education in budgeting, finance, investments and tax makes her the most qualified candidate to serve the county.

“Your Commissioners oversee the General Fund Budget and acts as the liaison between almost every department of the entire county. They decide where and how to spend all of your county tax dollars,” said Kline.

She also recognizes the importance of Kent State students to the county. She would like to keep them here.

“I think we obviously need to create more jobs for younger people to want to stay here. It has to be attractive for them to stay here, they have to be able to make a living, support families and so far I don’t think we’ve done a good job at that and I’m hoping to change it,” said Kline.

She is currently self employed as a certified financial planner and believes her other qualifications include: certified public accountant, personal financial specialist and a maters degree of business administration from Kent State.

Experience in politics is not on Kline’s resume and she admits she never intended on running for office until just a few day before the filing deadline.

“I kept getting these phone calls saying we needed change and the more investigating I did, the more I found out about what has been going on in the county,” said Kline. “I thought they needed a change. I thought Portage County could do better and we can.”

A careful examination of the budget is crucial, said Kline.

“I’m going to visit these department heads, see what their services are, what the cost is, do some cost benefit analysis. I used to do this when I was an account manager.”

Kline is a Ravenna native, has lived in Portage County her entire life and currently resides in Franklin Township. She works to cover most of the county while walking door to door and speaking with residence during her campaign for commissioner.

“You never take someone for granted though, you never know when they’ll have a question that I need to answer,” said Kline.

Kline raised her fiver children, now grown, as a single mother while holding jobs waitressing, washing dishes and as an administrative assistant over the 10 years she spent completing her undergraduate degree at Kent State University.