Ask him a question and, oh yeah, he’s going to give you an answer, and perhaps, maybe, it should come with a warning label.
WARNING: Only pose your question if you want to hear the truth. If you are attempting to solicit an opinion that does conflict with your own feelings, you might want to reconsider asking. Also, if you do not approve of profane language, you should NOT proceed.
But if you need the warning label, you don’t know the man. The Maryland native arrived in Wheeling close to 20 years ago because he chose to attend Wheeling Jesuit University, and he also got a job at a nearby hardware store. After Coogan was graduated from West Liberty University, he decided to stay.
Coogan “the businessman” doesn’t have the time to be diplomatic, and Coogan “the friend” doesn’t either. His approach is appreciated, too, by everyone except adversaries who are intimidated by it. In his mind, though, Coogan views such handlings simply as addressing how to get from Point A to Point B as quickly as possible to be able to move on to the next task.
That’s what makes him reliable.
Now that you have seen the Ward 2 voting results, what would you have done differently during your campaign?
Not much else could have been done with the regulations around Covid. My campaign like always was based around actions, actions I still take to this day to better the community. I’m not much of one for self praise or promotion, and that hurts me. My teams and trucks can be seen moving around this valley every day, but how much we do for the community is not always public knowledge. We donate time, money, items, offer short-term jobs to those in need, without judgment on their past, hoping to give them a hand up. When I publish that info, I do it with hopes others will join in; I work with the re-entry council to get housing for people and that short-term work I mentioned.
What are the reasons you have run for elected positions a few times?
I am the the most logical choice for a leader to help us into the next era. I’m a job creator and investor. I’ve brought many buildings and businesses into the community for its betterment.
How do you think the final results for city council and the mayor’s position will impact you, your family, and your businesses?
I think we will expect more of the same, nothing but tax increases and frivolous spending. Few of them have leadership ability or many accomplishments they can point to. My businesses are of course subject to all these taxes, and that just passes the cost onto the consumer. It has the potential, if they get what they say they want, to force landlords across the board to raise rents 10-20 percent needlessly, product costs to go up for Home Goods, and food costs to go up as well.
Explain why all of your service-related businesses are tagged with the “Reliable” brand.
It’s who we are and what we do!
It’s hard to get reliable contractors in many fields, so we went with that. Our products are out running like the day they were made to provide many years of service. We aim to show up when we say we will be making us Reliable. We even made it through covid round 1 keeping up pretty well. My team took it all in stride and doubled down to make the sure the community was taken care of.
Right now, do you believe you will decide to run for public office again? Why or why not?
I don’t know. I have many more plans coming up including bringing a Convenient store to the island and a few more restaurants as well. The Reliable brand is always expanding, so who know what the future holds? Who knows? Maybe our officials will do so well I don’t feel the need to run.
