Blog Post #2

Alliance’s new mayor has spent his entire life serving people. 

In the private sector, Andy Grove had an illustrious 42-year career in the hospitality industry, starting at the esteemed Duquesne Club in Pittsburgh which led to posts as general manager at five of the most prestigious country clubs in the region. 

Now retired, he is embarking on a new challenge in the public arena as Alliance’s 51st mayor after serving a four-year term on city council. 

Grove, accompanied by his wife Sue, addressed members of the Rotary Club of Alliance during its meeting on Wednesday, September 13, which happened to be his birthday. 

“After managing five different clubs, a lot of people want to know why I entered public service,” said Grove, noting it all started while he was in high school. 

WANTING TO SERVE 

A native of the Carnation City, Grove was preparing for his graduation from Alliance High School in 1967, with the war in Vietnam was raging and his draft number was very low. Expecting to be drafted, he took out paperwork to join the Air Force and was all set to go. But two weeks prior to graduation, Grove was in an automobile accident that put him in the hospital for four days. 

As a result, Uncle Sam rejected him for the service and instead put him on a nine-month deferment. 

Sometime after that, he was expecting to enter the service again. However, while his brother was on leave from his active duty, the pair was involved in another car accident at the intersection of Arch Avenue and State Street. 

“The funny thing is that we had to wait half an hour for an ambulance to arrive,” joked Grove. “We could have walked to the hospital faster.” 

That second traffic mishap led to another deferment and Grove never did get inducted into military service. 

“Neither accident was my fault,” said Grove. “I always felt a void in my life that I did not get to serve my country, so I said to myself that if I ever got the opportunity to enter public service, that’s the way I would like to serve my city and my country.” 

Grove got that opportunity when he was approached to apply for an open council seat.  

When he filed petitions to run on the Republican ticket in the 2023 mayoral election, he was surprised to find that he would be unopposed. As a result, he was appointed as mayor in August, taking over ahead of schedule as Mayor Alan Andreani decided to step down early. 

“I have the opportunity to build and gain momentum over the next five months to take me into 2024 stronger and with a good foundation to build on,” said Grove, who noted that much of what he learned in the hospitality world will translate well into political service. 

IT’S ALL ABOUT PEOPLE 

Following graduation, Grove matriculated to the University of Pittsburgh and was employed at the Duquesne Club, which offers a prestigious management training program of which Grove is a proud graduate. 

The Duquesne Club is the largest private business club in the United States. It has more than 5,000 members, 600 employees, 77 dining rooms, 40 corporation suites, a hotel of 60 rooms, a massive health and fitness department, and a catering department that can accommodate up to 8,000 guests in one evening. 

The Wall Street Journal has written several times that the laws are made in Washington D.C., but the country is run by the decisions that are made at the Duquesne Club in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 

“Of course when you work at places like the Duquesne Club, and some of the other clubs that I managed, you have opportunities to meet all kinds of people -- politicians, sports figures, movie stars, corporate executives and a lot of guests. 

Grove did a little bit of name dropping, noting that during his career he met members of several families associated with business and industry, such as the Mellons, the Beldens, the Timkens, and the Hoovers.  

Of course, he met Dan Rooney, whose family owns the Pittsburgh Steelers as well as many of the players from the NFL franchise, and of course, executives from the Pirates and the Penguins. 

He met John Wayne, Frank Sinatra, and Dean Martin, as well as presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Joe Biden (when he was vice president) and Donald Trump, who visited Brookside Country Club on a couple of occasions where it cost $15,000 to get a picture with the president and $25,000 to have dinner with him. 

One of the instructions from the Secret Service was that Trump requested a Big Mac upon his arrival and another upon his departure. To go along with that he required a 12-ounce plastic bottle of Coca-Cola with a twist off lid. Nothing else would do. 

Brookside did not have that available, so Sue came to the rescue and brought some to the club. 

Grove also shared an anecdote of when he had the pleasure of meeting and escorting Princess Grace of Monaco to a dinner in her honor at the Duquesne Club. 

The former actress had written poetry and was staying in Pittsburgh for a few days while she gave performances recitations of her work in the Steel City. Prior to the dinner, her staffer who was to accompany her became ill and it was asked that Grove, who was running front end operations at the Duquesne Club at the time, be her escort for the night. 

“She was stunning and the perfume she had on, I don’t know what it was, but it just stuck to everybody,” explained Grove. “So I got home that night at 11 or 11:30 p.m. with a tuxedo on and smelling of this perfume.” 

The mayor noted that he had to explain to Sue that he was called in to be Princess Grace’s escort for the night. The story did sound a little sketchy, he laughed. 

“Luckily there was story all about it in the next day’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette to prove it,” joked Grove. 

It was that interacting with people of all walks of life that Grove said gave him the best training for serving the people of Alliance. 

“It’s more than just meeting and knowing a lot of people,” said Grove. “It’s about serving people, because that’s our profession – to serve. It’s the experiences, the education, the people skills that you obtain, the management traits and proven leadership that you pick up along the way from these leaders of the community.” 

It’s also about being discreet and respectful. 

Working in hospitality you have to always remember to follow the rules, make sure everything is in its place like it should be, and everything you see, you keep it to yourself and safe,” Grove said. 

GOALS AS MAYOR 

Grove said he will serve the people of Alliance just as he served the dignitaries and celebrities that he has met over the years. 

“I am high-end service driven,” said Grove. “I will continue to be that way as mayor.” 

Describing himself as a fiscal conservative, Grove said he will continue to finish the pending projects and remaining goals from Andreani’s administration over the remainder of 2023. 

And although he and all but one other candidate is unopposed in the November general election, he will continue to campaign as if he were in a race, placing signs and doing all the other things that happen during an election.  

“Even though there is a lack of competition, we will still put in the effort that the citizens expect,” said Grove. “We don’t want it to be given to us. Winning an election should be earned.” 

After November, Grove said the real business will start. 

“After the election is over, the politics will stop and the policies will begin,” he said. “We’re going to work on real policies with real solutions that make a difference in people’s lives.” 

Grove said he promises to be fiscally sound and will work to provide an environment that will foster economic development and growth that will provide a better way of life for all of Alliance’s citizens and hopefully will lead to the first population growth in more than six decades. 

He noted the city is exploring ways to expand on the east and west to accommodate that growth. 

“The business decisions we make will be built on fact – not emotions, not rumor and not fear,” he said. “There will be transparency, accuracy and accountability in all we do.” 

BUILDING ON THE POSITIVES 

“A lot of people say Alliance isn’t the town it used to be,” said Grove. “I agree that it isn’t, but I say it is better.” 

Noting a strong hospital, parks system, school system, and health department (which the city is working to keep in Alliance despite an initiative to consolidate all departments into one per county), Grove said there is much to grow on. 

The Meijer project is on target to open in 2024 on site of the former Carnation City Mall, and IML Plastics is building a facility in the industrial park with another company interested in locating there. There are plans to build a Raising Cane’s restaurant on State Street and Harbor Freight and StarkFresh have recently opened outlets in Alliance. 

“That’s a start,” said Grove. “That’s a very good start.” 

Grove noted that 32,000 cars travel down State Street each day and another 18,000 pass through on Union Avenue, making that intersection the second busiest in Stark County next to Belden Village. 

Those two roads, both maintained by ODOT, weren’t expected to get any attention until 2028. But the city was able to get the state to reevaluate and some work will be conducted in 2024 to help improve those roads. 

“Many people pass through here each day,” said Grove. “If they like what they see, that will make them interested in investing in Alliance.” 

The city also has plans to tackle its blight, getting back to razing 30 to 40 dilapidated structures each year as it did recently with the former St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, an eyesore for several decades. 

It also has beefed up its road maintenance program, putting $5 million into repairs. Grove said the city hopes to put another $5 million into repairs soon. 

“We know the roads are bad,” said Grove. “The city has never put this kind of money into its roads.” 

ONE LAST PROMISE 

Grove, who noted his strength is in his family stability and his faith, said he will serve the city with honor. 

“I do have to give thanks to my wife,” said Grove, noting that the couple were high school sweethearts and have been married for 54 years. “And if I talk about everything she has done, you may want her for mayor instead of me.” 

Sue (Nash) Grove, a former banking executive, is a recipient of the Athena Award. She has been involved for many years with the Alliance Chamber of Commerce Women’s Division and the Greater Alliance Carnation Festival and the queen’s pageant. She works part-time in the office of Alliance Municipal Judge Andrew Zumbar and she heads the Alliance Firefighters’ Warm Blanket Project among several other civic endeavors. 

“I promise you I will serve this city with honesty, gratitude, and integrity,” closed Andy Grove. “I will always be a mayor for the people. God bless our city.”