Lifelong Kutztown resident James Schlegel has been elected the new mayor of Kutztown. His term will begin January 2018. He ran uncontested on both Democratic and Republican ballots in the Nov. 7 general election.
“I feel great. I grew up here,” Schlegel said. “When I was a young boy, I often use to think, ‘I would like to be mayor of Kutztown someday.'”
Kutztown’s first female mayor, Sandy Green, did not run for re-election. She has served three four-year terms as mayor during the past 12 years.
Schlegel served on Borough Council for the past 10 years. The late Mac Eidle, former council president, was one of his mentors. Since officially retiring from full-time work, Schlegel decided to run for mayor in the 2017 election.
“Kutztown is my town. I grew up here. I graduated high school here,” he said.
His father use to encourage him to get involved in the community, and he did, through Jaycees, Lions Club, Scouts, church and Optimist Club. Schlegel encouraged his own sons, Andy and Dan Schlegel, to be involved in the community also. They too are both involved in the Kutztown Optimist Club.
Some of the things Schlegel hopes to see continue after he takes over the mayoral reins from Green in January is to maintain the good relationship with Kutztown University.
“I hope to keep it a good little town. That’s my main goal. Keep it a good destination, a good place to come to, good place to visit to go to the shops and always feel good when you leave this town.”
Schlegel gets upset when he hears people say what a wonderful town Kutztown is and what they can do to change it.
“It really doesn’t need changing. It is a good town,” he said. “What I would like to see happen in Kutztown is see more families move into Kutztown. I’d like to see businesses come back into Kutztown.”
Schlegel would like to see a traffic light at Maple and Main. He said a traffic study was done in 2002 and there wasn’t enough traffic in one direction but he said maybe it’s time for another traffic study.
“It is dangerous in some places. Maybe get a crosswalk up by the park,” he said. “Those sort of things.”
Schlegel hopes to join in the KUBoK neighborhood watch walks through town when he can.
“My main advocation is railroading. Everybody knows that. I love trains,” said Schlegel.
A former conductor for Blue Mountain Reading Railroad, he currently volunteers at Allentown Auburn Railroad as a historian. He is also involved with the model railroad display at the Kutztown Historical Society. His son Andy Schlegel is now in charge of the display. During the Historical Society’s 2017 Holiday Festival he was running trains for the railroad display. “I had a lot to do with getting that started.”
Of particular interest to Schlegel is the Kutztown Train Station.
“We’re sitting in the former Reading Railroad Train Station,” said Schlegel during the interview with The Patriot. “While I was a boy, I’m talking the early 60s, it was still a Reading Railroad operationally. It wasn’t a passenger operation but it was still a freight operation.”
Schlegel said that at the time three men worked in the station that served as the freight house.
“I used to come down here and ride the local train when it came into town,” he said. “It was a neat place to be around when I was a kid. I have a great fondness for this building.”
The Train Station now serves as Kutztown Borough Council’s meeting room and the Allentown Auburn Railroad operates train rides out of the station, which Schlegel said has been very popular.
Schlegel is an Army veteran. He and his wife, Merry, reside in Kutztown. They have two grown sons, Dan and Andy Schlegel.
