By: Rebecca Miller
Donovan Leu has spent some years as a West Unity Council member and even ran for mayor in 2012, losing by 12 votes, but in this past election he really rallied the votes and won the position of Mayor of West Unity.
He is very excited to have the opportunity to serve his hometown in this way, as he has served in many other aspects through the years – as a well loved teacher at Hilltop School, as the “most fun activity” of the summer at the West Unity library when he helps kids tie-die T-shirt’s, as owner of Star Video for eight or nine years, and as a participant in the governing of the village for sixteen years as a council member (one term in early 90’s and three terms from 2000-2012), to name a few.
Born to the late Doyle and Helen Leu, and raised in West Unity, Don Leu is a 1975 graduate of Millcreek-West Unity Schools, or Hilltop. He also attended Four County for two years of Printing and worked at Tomahawk Printing in Wauseon for twenty one years.
In 1998 he graduated from Defiance College with a Bachelor of Science in Education, working hard and doing it all in two years. “When they added my classes to the night classes that I had taken throughout the years, and I pushed straight through, summer and winter, I was able to get my degree in just two years,” Leu explained.
He went on to receive his Masters Degree in Administration from Bowling Green State University in 2002. For the past twenty years he has taught fourth graders at Hilltop and he loves his job. “I taught just Science to third and fourth grades for two years, but then they changed it up and I have taught Math and Science to Fourth grade ever since,” he said.
When asked why he chose to run again, he responded, “Well, I decided to run this time because people kept telling me they wanted me to. I felt like someone else younger than me should do it, but then I realized I want to do some stuff… so I ran again.” West Unity has a population of 1671 people and only around 400 voted in November, but he won by 70%. Last time, in 2012, only a little over 200 voted.
Leu says he “might only be a one term mayor, but it is fun so I might run again.” He is looking forward to being hands on during the summer, as he has it off from school. Even now, during the school year, he is spending around four hours an evening “getting the ball rolling” at the office, getting set up and checking out the ropes and finding out how things work.
“I am constantly asking the folks who work for the village for information,” he said, adding I love the council and am really excited about getting a lot done together.”
Some of the things he is hoping to do include: getting a design painted on the water tower, getting together a Welcome Packet to be delivered to new residents, and possibly purchasing a piece of property to have an Industrial Park.
Concerning the tower he thinks it would be fun to draw a coloring book type page of the water tower and let the students at the school draw a design on, as a sort of contest for a possible solution. The Welcome Packet is already under way and he is planning to work with the Chamber of Commerce to get that done.
“West Unity is primed to do a lot!” Leu said with enthusiasm. “Maybe we can get some property for a development of median income, single family homes. The kids at school are excited about the possibility of new playground equipment and a Splash Pad.”
“We already have some businesses that are saying they want to donate to a Splash Park, which would be put in at Memorial Park.”“We should really see some good changes coming up. Wouldn’t it be great if we could put an adult living facility on the old school property?”
“That would be great to have something like that. They could put in sidewalks so they could walk or ride right downtown. I believe a number of the older population would love it if they could stay right here in their hometown instead of having to move somewhere else.”
“Everyone is ready to get going,” he continued. “The Main thing is the street lights. The council all want them, too, and they have a street light fund already started and need to get some grants…Maybe next year.” Mayor Leu has already started relating to individuals in the village and has a great desire for West Unity to “truly BE the Community that Cares” like it says on their town sign.
“We need to just do for the people and we will be fine. Do the little things that help people. Fix things when they need it, maintain the alleys in the winter, things like that. The crew we have here is amazing and they are so quick to take care of things when they are mentioned. We want to err on the side of helping so people all know they are cared about.”
Don Leu is the first official bachelor to be the Mayor of West Unity and he plans to spend a great deal of time and energy getting others involved with the village. One of his ideas is to ask for permission at the school to speak to the High School Seniors and encourage them to get involved in Community Service.
He hopes to stir up an understanding of the need in younger people so they will step up and do things like running for council, as well as Volunteerism for the benefit of the community. For those who have “wanted to help around town in the past, but have not been fully utilized,” the Mayor is saying, “Step up, now is the time.”
Rebecca can be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com