BETHESDA — Former mayor Robert Flanagan hopes to return to the seat he held from 2000-03.

Candidate Linda Reeves, a former village council member, also is on the ballot in the mayor’s race. The Times Leader contacted Reeves multiple times by phone and through messages on social media. Citing personal illness and the recent loss of a family member, she declined to participate in an interview and did not answer questions sent by email.

Flanagan said he was voted out of the mayor’s office shortly after breaking a tie vote among council members to build the current municipal building. He noted that council had voted twice in a tie, and the issue was controversial at the time.

Flanagan said others encouraged him to run again after he heard Mayor Samantha Burkhead had decided not to pursue a second term.

“People said: ‘Why don’t you run for mayor again? We’re going to need a mayor,'” Flanagan said, noting he has retired from his work in coal mining and would have time to devote to the job.

“In my first time as mayor, we built a skate park. Bethesda had the first skate park in Belmont County back then. Kids were skating on the street and sidewalks and stuff. Some of the council members wanted to take the boards off them,” he said. “Why don’t we just build a skate park and give them somewhere to skate? That was what we did.”

He said the skate park was later transformed to shelters at Epworth Park.

Flanagan worked as a coal miner in the 1970s. He also worked as a gravedigger and owned a heating business. He later worked as a foreman in a coal mine.

“I’m good at problem solving,” he said. “I’ll be 78 in July, and I’ve lived in town all but two years, that’s when I was in the Army back in 1965.

“I built three houses in Bethesda, and I’m a pretty good problem-solver. I get along with everybody most of the time. I’m easy to get along with and easy to talk to,” he said. “I care about the people in town and I care about the town. When I was mayor before, I told the truth whether it was brutal or not, good news or bad news. I never lied.”

Flanagan said he was also open to input from the public during his term.

Income from mayor’s court was high during his term, he said, and noted that if elected, he will work on keeping speeding tickets at a reasonable level.

He reflected on some of the issues facing Bethesda.

“Right now there’s no guns-to-your-head issues, but there’s some places in town I’d like to see cleaned up a little bit. There’s a lot of clutter in some places,” he said, recalling one instance during his earlier term when he worked toward the removal of almost 30 dilapidated cars.

“The town’s a pretty nice little town,” he added.

Flanagan said he took his parents’ advice to work hard to heart.

“I’ve always set goals in life. I think it’s important for people to do that. I’ve met all my goals I’ve set in life. I’ve done everything in my life that I’ve wanted to do, and a lot of people can’t say that,” he said.

He has donated his time installing a heating system in the community center. He can also be seen in his Army fatigues, standing at attention in five area cemeteries when a veteran is buried. He also stands at attention in his coal mining uniform when coal miners are buried.

Flanagan also visits nursing homes to play music.

“That’s what you’re supposed to do,” he said of his community service activities.

He is married to Diana Flanagan.