Rob Ludeman – one of the most experienced sitting councilmen in Toledo — is setting three top priorities for what he hopes is his next four-year term on the legislative body.

Public safety, roads, and jobs.

“If you have jobs, those people are paying taxes that will fix the roads and keep the police and fire classes strong, so those all fit together in a kind of puzzle,” he said.

City Council profile series: Cecelia Adams

Mr. Ludeman, 64, of 1865 Glen Ellyn Dr. in South Toledo, is seeking re-election on the Nov. 7 ballot. He is one of 12 council candidates competing for six seats. In the Sept. 12 primary election, Mr. Ludeman was the second highest vote-getter out of 13 candidates.

He has been a Realtor for 40 years, currently with the Danberry Co. A native of Toledo, Mr. Ludeman, a Republican, graduated from Bowsher High School in 1971 and Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio, in 1975. He and his wife, Elaine, have two grown children, Pete and Mary, and five grandchildren.

He was the District 2 councilman for 14 years until 2007 when he was barred from running for another term because of term limits.

During his early years on council, in about 1995, Mr. Ludeman pushed for flashing lights to be installed on roadways outside schools alerting motorists to slow down to 20 miles per hour during school hours.

“It was not a very expensive program, but I went into the capital budget and in one year, we had lights put in at every school in District 2 and the next year we had enough money to do every school in the city,” he said.

Mr. Ludeman and his wife were both ticketed separately on Feb. 1 with the city's controversial handheld speed cameras for supposedly speeding in the Byrnedale school zone. The speeding tickets were both dismissed after Mr. Ludeman showed them to Police Chief George Kral and told him the officer was standing with the speed gun camera too close to the edge of the school zone.

Those tickets were dismissed. After a story about it ran in The Blade, the city went on to refund or forgive hundreds of speeding tickets worth about $59,000.

Mr. Ludeman wanted back in after two years off of council and out of city politics, so he successfully ran for an at-large seat in November, 2009. He said two issues largely prompted his return: the cost of municipal refuse services — he favored privatizing trash pickup — coupled with a major city financial crisis.

“We had not gone to Republic Services for refuse yet and it was, as a cost-saving measure, better to put it in private hands,” Mr. Ludeman said. “Two, we were looking at a $44 million deficit and I felt you needed someone with background and some responsibility and could say 'if we do the status quo, we will have massive layoffs.’ I sided with Mayor Bell and no one lost their job, no one was laid off.”

That 2010 fiscal crisis was crunched into a balanced budget by a majority of city councilmen who also approved a higher monthly trash collection fee and higher taxes for some. Mr. Ludeman voted against both the trash fee hike and a plan to reduce the tax credit for Toledo residents who work outside the city and pay an income tax to another jurisdiction.

In November, 2013, he was the top vote-getter in that 12-way race for six at-large seats. Mr. Ludeman ran for county commissioner in 2000, losing to Democratic incumbent Bill Copeland by 51.3 percent to 48.7 percent. He also ran for mayor in 2005, finishing fourth.

Mr. Ludeman is one of two Republicans among nine Democrats and one political independent on council. He hasn't felt stymied by party politics. He was elected council president for more than 19 months until Septmber, 2007 and is chairman of the council committee that oversees economic development.

“I came from a long line of Republicans — my dad was probate judge for 22 years and he was a Republican, and my mother was a Republican,” he said. “I knew I was going to be in a minority party situation … You can see on the council dais that I have always tried to get along.”

Contact Ignazio Messina at imessina@theblade.com, 419-724-6171, or on Twitter @IgnazioMessina.

First Published September 25, 2017, 7:18 p.m.