Corry mayoral candidates once campaigned as a team. Now they're rivals for nomination

Yahoo

21-05-2025

Michael Baker and Jeff Fike partnered to run successful write-in campaigns for Corry mayor and Corry City Council four years ago. Baker was elected mayor. Fike won a council seat.
They have since parted ways on city issues, including the return of grant funding for public trail improvements and for a fiber optics network.
Now the two men are facing each other for the Republican nomination for mayor in the May 20 municipal primary.
Fike, an Air Force veteran and retired state trooper, had been attending council meetings and said that he was dissatisfied with council's unwillingness to answer questions about topics that were of interest to the public.
"Before I stomped my feet and jumped up and down, I decided I would do something about it, and two weeks before the general election started a write-in campaign along with Mike Baker and Kristen Lindstrom," Fike said. Lindstrom also won a council seat in 2021.
"They had agreed and decided to run on transparency and putting a stop to micromanaging, but as soon as they took office, that changed with them," Fike said. "And for about the last year and a half I've been a man on an island; all I can do is make sure the public has knowledge of what the other four (council members and mayor) are doing, and why I oppose a lot of the things that they're doing."
Fike opposed council's decision to return a $73,000 grant for trail improvements to the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources last year and this spring opposed council's decision to decline an $875,000 Appalachian Regional Commission grant for a fiber network for high-speed internet service.
City Council previously had voted to partner with Impact Corry for the grant to improve a rail trail on city property and to commit $14,000 and the use of city equipment and manpower for the project.
The previous city administration also had agreed to partner with Impact Corry on creating a fiber broadband network.
Council voted to return the DCNR trail grant last summer after some residents who owned adjacent properties raised concerns about privacy, noise, property values and possible vandalism.
"It's a public nuisance, period," Baker, a business owner, said of the trail in June. "Having it in your backyard is an invasion of privacy."
Improving the long-used trail as a connection in the Pittsburgh to Erie Trail would only compound problems, Baker said.
"This is just the beginning of the trails they want to put in. If there are this many problems with one-third of that, what would we have when it's all done," Baker said.
Many more residents supported the trail project than opposed it, Fike said.
"I think nine families opposed the trail, and about 500 people in a poll favored it," Fike said.
The city not only returned the grant to improve the trail along a former rail line. It also barricaded entrances to the trail without council authorization, Fike said.
What's being built?: Corry Rails + Trails park will be for more than biking
City officials voted to return the fiber grant because they weren't comfortable being the grant recipient and could not transfer the grant to Impact Corry as requested, Baker said. Impact Corry — a nonprofit organization dedicated to community, economic and civic development — can reapply for the funding on its own, Baker said.
Further, a fiber network is not needed and the grant money could have been better used to address other city issues, Baker said.
"We have three internet (providers) in Corry," Baker said. "We're not under-served or not served. Fiber would be a duplication."
Even with three providers, internet service is not available in some areas and not reliable in others, Fike said.
"It's not the kind of internet we need for people working from home. It's not the kind of internet we need for business expansion. And it's certainly not the kind of internet we need for kids to do their studies at home," Fike said.
More: Barb Nichols, longtime Corry Memorial Hospital CEO, oversaw massive changes on her watch
Corry is moving forward under the current administration, Baker said.
The city has been remediating stormwater flooding and is working to address the issue long-term, Baker said.
The city also is working with the Erie County Land Bank to address blight and with the Corry Redevelopment Authority to help residents repair and maintain properties, Baker said.
A planned $40 million wastewater treatment plant will benefit residents and businesses, and a new road maintenance program is among more city accomplishments during his term as mayor, Baker said.
"We started a better program to take care of our streets and we're spending money a little more wisely rather than patching a road and watching it fall apart," Baker said. "We're trying to do main thoroughfares on a more permanent basis."
Fike said that other improvements that have been rejected by the city are taking a toll.
"Residents, business owners — everyone's morale is down," Fike said. "Because every time it looks like we're taking a few steps forward, a project gets cancelled and the money gets sent back. And we're back to square one."
No matter who wins a four-year term as mayor this fall, the Corry city administration is almost certain to change dramatically. Impact Corry Executive Director Chuck Gray and former Corry mayor and councilman Charles Campbell are the only candidates for two available Republican nominations for council. Bill Roche, another former city councilman and current member of the Impact Corry board of directors, is the sole candidate for two available Democratic nominations for council.
Corry City Council is comprised of just four members, plus the mayor.
Contact Valerie Myers at [e-mail].
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Mayor, councilman face off for party's nomination for Corry mayor