MOUNT VERNON — Sam Barone, 200 E. Vine St., has announced his candidacy for Mount Vernon First Ward City Council. Barone, a Democrat, has been a resident of Mount Vernon for the past 24 years, and a Knox County resident for 42 years.
Currently executive director of the Community Foundation of Mount Vernon & Knox County, Barone previously served locally as administrator of Mid-Ohio Transit Authority, as Knox County Deputy Registrar, and as Kenyon College Public Relations Director.
Additionally, he has served as director of Information and Legislative Affairs at USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service in Washington, D.C., as executive director under Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Eugene Branstool, and as Midwest regional sales director for Jardine Associates, a collegiate products distributor.
Through election to City Council, Barone said he hopes to play an active role in city revitalization efforts that rely heavily on the success of business, industry and education, all of which are well represented in Mount Vernon’s First Ward.
“My work at the Community Foundation, and as a volunteer board member of major institutions like Knox Community Hospital and smaller organizations such as Foundation Park Conservancy, have impressed upon me the importance of quality of life in the creation and retention of jobs in a community,” Barone said.
He added, “I am particularly interested in being a member of Mount Vernon City Council because it has exhibited a collegial, non-partisan approach to solving difficult budgetary and policy issues, in cooperation with other municipal officials.”
Commenting on the customer service role council members are sometimes called upon to fill, Barone said, “I am prepared to assist constituents in accessing city services on those occasions when their own efforts have been unsuccessful.”
In addition to serving as secretary of the Knox Community Hospital Board of Directors and as vice chairman of the Foundation Park Conservancy, Barone is a voting member of the Foundation for Knox Community Hospital, a member of the advisory committee of the MVNU Chapter of S.I.F.E. (Students in Free Enterprise), a board member of the Community Concerts Association of Knox County, vice chairman of the B&O Depot Restoration Board, and a distinguished past-president of the Kiwanis Club of Mount Vernon.
Barone’s prior volunteer activities include service as a firefighter and EMT-A on the College Township Volunteer Fire Department, as a Knox County Park District Commissioner; as a youth coach with Mount Vernon Girls Softball, YMCA basketball, and YMCA and MOSSL soccer; as a board member of the Mount Vernon Players, Ohio’s Junior Miss, the Knox County Private Industry Council, the Kenyon College Alumni Council, the Knox County Democratic Party, and the St. Vincent de Paul School Parent-Teacher Association.
Barone received a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University after his graduation from Kenyon College in 1972. He has been honored professionally and for his work in the community, most recently with the 2010 Dan Emmett Festival Community Service Bell Award. He and his wife, Paula, have three adult children and three grandchildren.
