Located in western Delaware County, the village of Ostrander has experienced growth and development in recent years as people have found it to be a desirable spot to live within the county. During this period of growth, the village has been led by Mayor Larry Crile.
“You can’t stop growth, but you can control it,” Crile has stated in previous Ostrander Village Council meetings.
Citing personal reasons, Crile resigned on Monday as mayor.
“Ostrander is in a transition,” he said Thursday. “We have very good leadership in the council. It’s time for the younger (generation) to lead.”
A decorated Green Beret who served in Vietnam, Crile has served the village for 15 years. He started out on council before beginning his 11-year stint as mayor. Crile said he had been thinking about stepping aside for sometime.
“I wasn’t going to run in the upcoming election,” he said. “We don’t have any fights, and the council is in a good place.”
Buckeye Valley Middle School honored several veterans on Veteran’s Day in November 2018, and Crile was one of those veterans. He told the students during the assembly that he graduated in 1964 with the first Buckeye Valley High School class, and he played on the high school’s first football team.
Crile told them that it was the first year that several of the local schools were combined to form Buckeye Valley High School, and it was a struggle to get the football players to work together. Once they did, they beat Delaware Hayes in the school’s first-ever football game.
“We beat them silly,” he told the students. “When good people come together, they can do great things.”
Crile added that over the past 15 years, council has been through some of the village’s larger challenges, and he had the opportunity to watch how they played out.
“The council is pretty seasoned,” he said. “It seems like a good time to let them step into the job, and this way, there are no surprises.”
Crile said the founding fathers got it right in that council has proven Democracy works.
“The process works if you let it work,” he said. “The council has seen it work.”
Crile added he doesn’t have any big plans for the future other than maybe painting the house this summer, writing more, and working on a couple of projects. He said he has written one book, which is in the Delaware County Library, and now that he has the time, he would like to write more.
Crile said he is also looking forward to working behind the scenes of the village as a member of the Ostrander Planning Commission.
In the interim, Council President Robert Taylor will be sworn as mayor at the next council meeting, and a new council president will be elected. A new council member will also be appointed to fill the empty seat at the table.
Taylor said he will finish out Crile’s vacated term, which ends Dec. 31, 2019, and he plans to seek election as mayor in the November general election.
“Ostrander thanks Larry Crile for his dedicated service in helping to keep the village safe, thriving and debt-free,” Taylor said in announcing Crile’s resignation. “We’re going to stand on his shoulders.”
