By Angela T. Koenig
Enquirer contributor

CHEVIOT - Voters in this city of one square mile and roughly 9,600 residents will elect their first new mayor in 20 years.

Democratic candidate Samuel Keller - elected to City Council in 1992 and president of council since 1994 - is running unopposed.

"I think it's time for somebody else to have a shot at it," said Mayor J. Michael Laumann, 52, who has held the office since 1983. "The job takes a lot of time and I need to put more time into my law practice, spend more time with my family."

Laumann, a Democrat, entered politics in the mid-1970s at the urging of his friend and mentor, former mayor Lou VonHolle.

The city has not had an income tax increase during his service, said Steve Neal, the safety service director here since 1992 and a City Council member in the 1980s.

"There have been some very lean years, where we were down on money, and he didn't push to raise these taxes," said Neal.

Laumann supported only levy renewals that came without a tax increase, and project-specific tax issues.