Sun staff
The village of Amelia council appointed two new council members during its meeting on May 17.
Regina Dietrich Rumke and John Hyder will fill the two seats left vacant by former council members Renee Gerber and Chris Dickerson, who both resigned during the April 19 council meeting.
Gerber resigned over disagreements she had with the council regarding police coverage.
“I wanted to get more police officers so we had adequate coverage,” she explained. “Just regular support of [the police] is lacking in council and the mayor in general.”
Gerber’s choice to resign was not a decision she took lightly.
“I was just re-elected,” she said. “It felt like we weren’t getting any support in what our neighbors are telling us and what the community wanted; it was a very hard decision.”
Dickerson could not be reached for an interview by time of publication.
Rumke, a native of Amelia, is a retired business owner. She ran Spiffeys, a general contracting firm located in Pierce Township, for 20 years.
Her mother’s service to Amelia inspired Rumke to apply for the position.
Elaine Dietrich, now in her nineties, served as Amelia’s vice mayor and founded the recreation and historical committees. In addition, the family started Amelia’s Christmas Day parade, according to Rumke.
“Thank you everybody for allowing me to have this opportunity to kind of give back a little bit and carry on my momma’s tenure that she had,” Rumke said. “I can’t wait to see what we can do together; I think it’s going to be great.”
Rumke looks forward to working on the safety committee.
“Being born and raised here, this was always such a safe haven to be in, and I believe it still is,” Rumke said. “But, I think that it needs some help, and it needs people to get involved to make sure that children of Amelia feel safe, and that the people who live here feel safe.”
She added, “Most important to me would be bridging the gap, if there is any, between the police department and the residents; the police have a bad rap going on right now and I think it’s real important to bring the community together with the department.”
Hyder, a retired professional photographer who has lived all over the world, moved to Amelia nearly five years ago.
“I’ve done a lot for the community; I do all the photography for the various events, and I would like to be able to help out and give even more back to the community,” he said.
Hyder looks forward to working with the parks and recreation committee on event coordination.
“I want to get the community involved with these events,” he added.
Mayor Todd Hart applauded the council’s decision to appoint Rumke and Hyder.
“I’m really happy with the folks that we got,” he said.