{"id":2478,"date":"2026-06-23T18:44:05","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T18:44:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/voinovichacademy.ohio.edu\/?page_id=2478"},"modified":"2026-06-23T18:44:05","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T18:44:05","slug":"don-anderson-pomeroy","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/voinovichacademy.ohio.edu\/index.php\/don-anderson-pomeroy\/","title":{"rendered":"Don Anderson | Pomeroy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Navigating Challenges and Embracing Tourism: How Mayor Don Anderson is Revitalizing Pomeroy on the Banks of the Ohio River<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>
\"Don<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Pomeroy is situated on the banks of the Ohio River. It\u2019s a picturesque town, with many storefronts facing the river, which makes it ideal for festivals and outdoor gatherings.<\/span><\/div>\n

\n\u201cIt\u2019s the only town that anybody knows of where there are no cross streets,\u201d Mayor Don Anderson said.
\nAnderson is a lifelong resident of Pomeroy. He did leave Pomeroy for a short period of time to study environmental science at The Ohio State University and attend graduate school at Ohio University in the same subject. He got a job at American Electric Power and was able to stay in the area.<\/span><\/div>\n

\n\u201cPeople here like the area and like the river and enjoy Pomeroy very much,\u201d Anderson said, adding that Pomeroy has a very small town atmosphere.
\nDespite the beauty of the town, Anderson said it’s difficult for major developments to occur as it\u2019s hard to find large enough areas of land on which to build those facilities. Because of that, Pomeroy\u2019s economy needs tourism and loyal customers, he said.<\/span><\/div>\n

\nEven with the coronavirus pandemic, Anderson said \u201call of the stores are doing quite well. A lot of the merchants have said that even last year with COVID was one of their best years.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

\nAnderson became the mayor of Pomeroy after the previous mayor resigned. He was city council president at the time.
\nAfter finishing out the previous mayor\u2019s remaining term, Anderson decided to run for reelection because he had encouraged the previous council members to keep their seats or run for reelection.<\/span><\/div>\n

\n\u201cI talked them into running, and I didn\u2019t think it was the right thing to do to say, \u2018Good luck, see you later\u2019,\u201d Anderson said.
\nPomeroy has faced revenue shortages and struggled to complete infrastructure projects, even with the assistance of grants. Many require matching funds from the city, which can be difficult for a small town such as Pomeroy.<\/span><\/div>\n

\nPomeroy\u2019s population is slowly declining, and with it, the town\u2019s income tax base. The remaining population is aging and going into retirement.
\n\u201cWe have to figure out how to maximize what revenue is available,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cWe\u2019re hoping to make it more of a place where people would want to come and live.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

\nOne of Pomeroy\u2019s recent achievements started a view years ago is a farmer\u2019s market, which has already grown in size. The farmer\u2019s market offers vouchers for older individuals and veterans, as well as donations of produce to food banks.<\/span><\/div>\n

\nThe farmer\u2019s market is also in close proximity to many businesses to attract customers there, as well.<\/span><\/div>\n

\n\u201cWe\u2019re getting a lot of folks that come back. They visit the farmer\u2019s market or a lot of people travel the river, and Pomeroy is kind of a destination for them,\u201d Anderson said.<\/span><\/div>\n

\nPomeroy was a member of the Mayor\u2019s Partnership for Progress before Anderson became mayor. He said he has been able to benefit from the surplus of ideas, such as potential grants, from the program supported by Ohio University\u2019s Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service. He\u2019s also had a steady stream of information about the state legislature.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s kind of given us a direction to go to at least to try to get dollars to do the things that we want to do,\u201d Anderson said.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2478","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/voinovichacademy.ohio.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/voinovichacademy.ohio.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/voinovichacademy.ohio.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voinovichacademy.ohio.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voinovichacademy.ohio.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2478"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/voinovichacademy.ohio.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2480,"href":"https:\/\/voinovichacademy.ohio.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2478\/revisions\/2480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/voinovichacademy.ohio.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}