Patch Gets To Know Charlie Schilling

MARIETTA, OH — Charlie Schilling is one of the two new Washington County Commissioners. He and James Booth have been in office since January. Prior to this, he was a small business owner, he's been in business for himself for 25 years, and he owns a real estate holding company.

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He said he wanted to run for office because he felt he could bring a lot to Washington County.

“First though I had to get the approval of my wife Carrie,” he said. They have four children ages 19, 17, 6, and 4. He knew this was going to be demanding, but when his wife gave her blessing he went full steam ahead.

One thing he wanted to accomplish, restore some respect within our county.

“When you look at our past and with what’s went on concerning certain things, topics of contention, they might not have been handled in the most professional way,” Schilling said.

He feels they’re moving in the right direction. “Don’t get me wrong we have our times where we have a laugh.” But Schilling said when it comes time for business they get right down to it.

He didn’t elaborate on the attitudes or actions of past commissioners, but he did say that they’ve heard a lot of positive feedback about how they conduct county business now. “This is from areas around the state, not just locally.”

Schilling and his wife are both from the area, they’ve been married for 21 years. His oldest just finished his first year in college, his oldest daughter is about to be a senior in high school, but they also have a 6 and a 4-year-old, both adopted. There’s a big age gap between the kids. “We wanted to grow our family.” So they looked at how they could do this, and do some good for the community. “So in 2012 we became licensed foster parents.”

They spent six years as licensed foster parents in Washington County. “We had several children come through our house, they were from the ages of 0-3.” He said they were blessed enough to adopt two of them. He added that his wife deserves the real credit. “She’s the superstar. She’s the one who took care of all the visits they needed to attend with their biological families, the paperwork needed to be done.” He said he was just along for the ride. “I was just there to provide a father figure that they needed.” He said every kid that came through their home had a positive impact on them, and they hope to have had a positive impact on them.

There are dozens of kids who need foster homes in Washington County right now. Schilling said fostering is not for everyone, but anyone interested can get more information here. “It’s really something that can be life-changing for you if you do decide to do it.”

Moving forward, Schilling said that as a county commissioner, he’s striving to be a great communicator. “When someone calls you, you call them back and try to give them the answers they need.” He said the goal is to be as open and transparent with what you can do.

Strengthening the local economy is also key for Schilling. “Providing a sense of economic development has been lacking here over the last several years.” He said a way to help out the local economy is to support local businesses, the local port authority. “Take the calls and listen to what business owners have to say in what we need in terms of infrastructure and other things to help economic development.”

If asked today whether he’d run again, the answer would be yes.

“I like what I’m doing, I like the people that I work with,” he said.

Commissioners Ritter and Booth are very easy to work and communicate with.

“We all had questions coming in, but it’s been a pleasant surprise," he said. "We hit the ground running, we’ve done a lot of good things together.”

Schilling referenced the Devola sewer project. “I’m all for fighting for people’s property rights, but you have to ask yourself before you decide to fight, what happens if you lose.” He said the further folks got into the project they started scratching their heads and asking why are we fighting the EPA. “Understand what those consequences are when making the decision of how to move forward.”

Commissioner Charlie Schilling only had positive things to say about what’s going on in Washington County. “We have other things coming up that are going to be good news for the county.” He said that they’re looking at more funding sources for the Devola sewer project. “Maybe some moves that are going to happen in the near future.”

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