PERRYSBURG – Councilwoman Jan Materni has filed petitions to run for the 76th Ohio House District seat as a Democrat.

“I believe my 30-plus years of experience in government, especially with the infrastructure bill and the money coming from the Ohio, puts me in the unique position to be able to help our district with funding for the various projects that are needed,” Materni said.

Materni was elected to Perrysburg Council in 2019. She is the chair of the service committee and sits on the safety and public utilities committees.

Materni is retired from the Ohio Department of Transportation and intends to use that experience to focus the campaign on infrastructure issues.

“I can’t think of a better person who can represent the district than someone who has lived in the district as long as I have and has worked during her career in every single part of Wood County,” Materni said.

She started with ODOT in 1984 as summer help and two years later was hired on as a full-time highway maintenance worker.

“I actually did the physical labor. I shoveled the stone and plowed the snow. I mowed. I did all that and worked my way up,” Materni said.

She eventually worked on road projects as a project inspector, and then a transportation manager and managed a maintenance facility.

“This time of year I would have been working to help manage a show plow crew.”

She worked in both Ottawa County and northeastern Wood County, primarily in the Walbridge area.

“Ohio is currently one of the least safe states for road safety, which, to me, is terrible,” Materni said.

She is also concerned about lagging wages and income for the working people of Ohio.

“To me, part of sustainable wages must be enough to include child care or have child care paid for by the government. The society we grew up in was a lot different than today. My father was a UAW member and my mom did not have to work. My dad made enough money back then, and there were six of us, to provide a decent living,” Materni said. “It’s very different today. This is one of the things I’m going to run on. People today are worse off.”

She supports union labor.

“Ohio used to be very progressive. You can trace the decline in the middle and working class with the decline of unions,” Materni said. “On the other hand, we are giving handouts to the rich, who are getting richer on the backs of the working class, while they struggle to keep a roof over their heads and put food on the table, with two working class parents.

“The perception that people don’t want to work is not the truth,” Materni said. “The average person just wants a livable wage. You are not going to get that working in a restaurant.”

She is also hoping to help public schools.

“Our schools are under attack. They are vital to our society and our communities. We need to invest more money into them and hold charter schools accountable, as much as we do public schools, as regards testing,” Materni said. “I see that there are certain segments of our society that see the potential money that can be made in charter and private schools and they are helping to formulate discontent among a certain segment of society in regard to public schools.

Materni lives in Perrysburg and has been a resident of Wood County since 1984. She is a graduate of Bowling Green State University where she received her bachelor’s degree in history. She also has extra certifications and additional course work through ODOT.

She has one son, who is a petty officer, 1st class, in the Navy, stationed in Norfolk, Virginia.