Candidates for the Putnam County Commissioners Seats tackle tough questions from the community at "Putnam County Meet the Candidate Night"

OTTAWA, OH (WLIO) - Candidates for the Putnam County Commissioners seats open on the March 19th Primary were put in the hot seat Tuesday night to answer tough questions ahead of the election.

The candidates attended the "Putnam County Meet the Candidate Night" in Ottawa Tuesday evening where county residents had the opportunity to come, listen to their stances on certain topics, and then presented on-the-spot questions about important local, state, or national issues to help guide them in the voting selection process. Before the candidates took the stage, we had the opportunity to ask each of them what things they would like to see happen in Putnam County.

"I think we'll continue growth. Since I've been in here starting out, there was quite a bit of debt and paid off all the debt, and we've had a balanced budget ever since we've paid that off. I look forward to continue with discipline and fiscal responsibilities," says Vincent Schroeder, (R) Republican Candidate for Putnam County Commissioners.

"Putnam County has been a great place to grow up and live. I've been here my whole life, and our children are our future, and what I would like to do is try to bring more business and industry into Putnam County so our high school kids can go to college or not go to college and come back and want to stay in Putnam County and raise their families because it truly is a great place to live," says Tim Wehri, (R) Republican Candidate for Putnam County Commissioners.

"We have a CIC which we would continue to work with them as we always have, and working with CIC, you're going to get out to help promote companies to come to Putnam County. We want to promote the county in many ways as we can to entice those businesses to want to come to Putnam County," says Brad Brubaker, (R) Republican Candidate for Putnam County Commissioners.

Current Putnam County Commissioner and candidate Michael Lammers was not present at Tuesday night's event. Also, this event was unique because it was organized and hosted by 14-year-old Chase Maag, a student at Ottawa-Glandorf Schools. We also caught up with Chase about why he is so interested in politics and making sure these events are held.

"I thought it was important for the voters of Putnam County, and even here, to know what's going on for them to get a chance to meet their candidates, know who they are voting for, and do their homework. Local politics is the best, and you know, there's not that many kids my age interested in politics. Me, getting involved in my government, knowing what's going around is, I thought, was very important, and then I started to get really involved in helping out and volunteering and stuff," says Chase Maag, Organizer & Host of "Putnam County Meet the Candidate Night."

Brubaker and Lammers will compete for the term starting January 2nd while Schroeder and Wehri will battle for the term starting January 3rd.