New Fairfield Vice Mayor ‘looking forward’ to new role

Fairfield Vice Mayor Craig Keller said he's "looking forward" to serving alongside Mayor Steve Miller for the next year, leading both the city council and the city of Fairfield.

Miller made Keller, who's entering his third year as the Second Ward City Council member, vice mayor for 2018.

“It means a lot to serve under Steve as vice mayor of the city,” Keller said. “There’s a lot of responsibility on your shoulders.”

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Miller chose Keller because of the “commitment to this city by doing what is best for the community,” he said.

“Over the last two years, I’ve gotten to know Craig, and he had been a good council member,” he said. “I felt he was an excellent choice for vice mayor to assist me in my work. I feel he earned it.”

Keller brought to City Council a varied background, serving as a past vice president of the Butler County Historical Society, past president of the Hamilton Civil War Round Table and past Department of Ohio Commander of the Sons of the Union Veterans of the Civil War.

Before serving on City Council, Keller served on the Fairfield Parks & Recreation Board and the Fairfield Cultural Arts Commission.

That experience “has prepared me for this,” Keller said.

“I hope I can continue to learn from it, and become a better leader,” said Keller. “And learn from Steve, as the mayor, under his tutelage.”

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Serving as vice mayor also means serving as a face of Fairfield, where he’ll be attending various events with, or instead of, Miller.

“I’m very much looking forward to this coming year,” said Keller, who plans to run for re-election as Second Ward Councilman in 2019.

Keller didn’t run for election in 2015 with an agenda but said his goals were connected to the police and fire departments.

"I wanted to see our fire and police at full staff, and I wanted them to have what they needed," said Keller, who was council's public safety committee chair for his first two years. "Back in '16 we were able to pass our fire levy, and they were able to get a new Quint (fire engine), and the police they were able to get their training simulator, body cameras and they're getting to full staff."

He’s looking to the future of Fairfield, including working to continue what the city has done over the years in retaining businesses, helping businesses expand and working to attract new business to the city.

Keller will now focus his attention back to the city’s parks department as the new chair of the council’s Parks & Recreation Committee, including the Marsh and Harbin parks.

"It's really at the beginning stages with the Marsh expansion," he said.

The city has attempted to attract younger crowds to the city, and the developments of the parks will play into that, Keller said.

“We’ve talked about trying to attract the younger crowd, so they’re not going to other cities,” he said. “We have strategies to try to keep them here.”

Keller is a Fairfield Rotary Club member, Fairfield Civitan Club, Fairfield Historical Society and coaches his grandson at West Side Little League.

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