May 5th, 2026 Early voting begins 1st week of April – right after Easter!

 My commissioner’s seat runs in sync with the Ohio state office election cycle like the Governor whereas our other two commissioners match up with the US President’s election cycle. 

I am a native of the Village of Florida, Ohio – a small canal town on the banks of the Maumee River in Henry County. I graduated from Napoleon High School. My mother was a Deputy Clerk of Courts in the Henry County Courthouse. My father was a home-builder. As a carpenter, he loved to make wooden toys for me. I went to college to become an architect. I have earned architectural degrees from both Ohio State and Kent State. I’ve been a state-registered architect since 2002. At one point in my architectural career, I was registered in 18 different states at once – having projects being built in each state.I have lived my entire adult life here in Hancock County after moving to Findlay directly after graduating from college in 1992. 

I have owned three different homes over the course of the past 30 years here in Findlay – paying my fair share of property taxes all along the way. And no, my friends, the County doesn’t give the commissioners any sort of discount on our own property taxes! I have raised two sons that have both graduated from public schools here locally. Jordan, my older son has since graduated from Ohio State. And Matthew, my younger son is set to graduate from BGSU in May on the weekend before our Primary Election Day. I am engaged to marry Jennifer Suermann who is a elementary teacher with Findlay City Schools.

I was 1st appointed as a Hancock County Commissioner in Nov of 2016 from a field of 9 candidates – in the middle of the unexpired 4-year term of my predecessor Phil Riegle. I am currently about 2½ terms into this role as your public servant. I enjoy it – being a county commissioner. It suits me well as an architect.

There’s nothing quite like campaigning for re-election to bring out words of encouragement from so many folks, some that I didn’t even really know very well ~ that they enjoy having me as one of their county commissioners. I bring a unique perspective to this office as an architect. I am the only commissioner in the whole state of Ohio to also be a registered architect.

There are 3 basic attributes that both architects and commissioners share:

1. People come to both of us to help them solve their problems.

2.  We both know how to work with incredibly tight budgets.

3. People expect both of us to be experts on everything and even though we are not, we do know where to find the experts for about any situation.

An effective commissioner is both a care-giver and a care-taker.

Care-giver because we manage the needs of the entire county staff who are employed by our 14 different elected officials as well as all the associated agencies of the county. The commissioners also attend to the wide variety of needs of the general public using our facilities.

Care-taker because we manage all the county-owned properties, fleets of vehicles, MEP equipment & systems, communications, & insurance.

We handle all the contracts and public bidding for all the building repairs, additions, renovations, - let alone any new construction.

An architect is without a doubt, the most qualified person for this role as county commissioner. We are constantly imagining how people use buildings. I have found my true calling as an architect in serving the public in this way. We have accomplished so much over the past 10 years while I’ve been serving you in office. As well as the 24 years prior where I periodically served 5 different previous Boards of County Commissioners before becoming a county commissioner myself.

I’m ready to keep it going – making steady progress on what needs to be done at a pace where our available funds can keep up with us. 

The work of keeping our various county-owned buildings up-to-date and up-to-code is never-ending. I am the right man for job. You aren’t paying me any extra fee to provide these expert services while I am one of your commissioners. You did pay extra for the 24 years before I became a commissioner and you will once again if you decide to replace me.

Remember, the work isn’t going away. There will be some other project come up in the months ahead. There always is more work to do. When we look at the finances for the county – we are in the best of times over the past 10 years while I have been in office. Find me another 10-year period where we have generated the same amount of growth for the county.

Year-over-year increases in sales tax revenue without increasing the sales tax rate. We only keep 1% of the 6.75% collected here in Hancock County. Year-over-year increases in the General Fund and our Budget Stabilization Fund are unmatched in the past. It is truly a Golden Age. Why would you ever consider changing out a commissioner when we have the current system working so well? Why would you ever want to reject an in-house architect who is willing to provide the county with expert building coordination for free?

Why would you want to bring in another new commissioner to be trained on-the-job by two other commissioners who will only have 6-years and 2-years of experience themselves?

Let’s Keep Bechtol on Board as one of our Hancock County Commissioners.