Candidates file for city, village, township, school board jobs all over Licking County

Kent Mallett, Newark Advocate
·10 min read

NEWARK − Some places can't find enough candidates for all elected offices, but that's not the case in Johnstown, Etna Township and the Newark and Southwest Licking school boards.

The Nov. 7 general election ballot will have a combined 24 candidates listed for the nine positions to be elected in those four races: Johnstown City Council full-term, Etna Township trustee and the two school boards.

Candidates for city, village, township and school board positions filed petitions by Wednesday's deadline to appear on the November ballot, if their petitions are certified by the Licking County Board of Elections.

The ballot will not include the incumbent mayors of Alexandria, Hanover and Hebron, longtime Franklin Township Trustee Dave Lang or veteran Etna Township Trustee Jeff Johnson. They all opted not to seek reelection.

Johnstown has six of its seven council seats on the ballot in November, due to election recalls and resignations during a tumultuous 2022. Three are full-term seats, and three are unexpired terms. Ryan Green is the lone council member not on the ballot.

"This will more than likely go down as one of the most important elections in Johnstown history," Green said. "I'm excited to work with a full team chosen by the citizens of Johnstown. The work we do in the next two years will shape the greater Johnstown area for generations to come."

Five candidates seek the full-term positions. They are incumbent Donald Barnard, who serves as mayor, and new candidates Jeffrey Barr, Kyle Cook, Kristen Hurst and Tiffany Hollis.

The four candidates for the three unexpired terms are: Wesley Kobel, incumbent Robert Orsini, Dave Selan and Nicole Shook. Incumbents Sharon Hendren and Charlie Campbell are not running.

“I was not really surprised with all the people running," Barnard said. "I think a lot of people want to step up and provide leadership.”

Johnstown City Council President Jon Merriman decided to run for Monroe Township trustee, where he will face Troy Hendren, who seeks a sixth term. Merriman acknowledges it will be an "uphill climb" to defeat Hendren.

Merriman said he’s interested in planning, zoning and water usage issues the township will confront.

“I just know there’s going to be a ton of growth and people knocking on doors and trying to buy land,” Merriman said. “I think a lot of stuff will get annexed into the city. We only have so much water to go around. I want to make sure it gets utilized properly. I might bring some outside views.”

He said he has confidence city government is on the right track.

“It’s in a better place now than when I started,” Merriman said. “I think we have good leaders in the city now.”

Hendren said, "There's a lot going on. Now is not the time for change. I think we have a good group of guys. The three trustees are in concert with one another.

"We each want to see Johnstown prosper and the township remain as rural as it can, but that gets tougher every day. We’re trying to preserve the rural atmosphere.”

Hebron Mayor Jim Layton, 72, said he plans to retire from his job with the village and likely his position on the Grow Licking County board but would like to stay involved with the Framework initiative planning for the Intel Corp. development.

The last four years have been an interesting time to serve as mayor, Layton said.

"COVID was the big crunch," he said. "Everything slowed. Then Intel showed up and everything went crazy. Mostly, people want to build homes. We were short housing before Intel.”

Layton said there are 204 homes recently built in the subdivision along Ohio 79, another 300 homes proposed in the village, and developers are looking at yet another location.

Former Mayor Clifford Mason and Village Council President Valerie Mockus will compete to succeed Layton as mayor. Mockus was the lone candidate who filed for mayor four years ago, but she was removed from the ballot because she did not completely fill out the petitions she circulated. Layton won the office as a write-in candidate.

"Valerie has been council president and has a good understanding of what’s going on," Layton said. “She’s been deeply involved and working hard at it.”

Mason has served as Hebron mayor, council member and fire chief and fire chief of Buckeye Lake and the defunct Refugee-Canyon Joint Fire District. He resigned as the Refugee-Canyon chief in February 2022 as part of a separation agreement with the fire district amid an investigation into an internal complaint about conduct toward another employee.

Alexandria Mayor Jim Jasper, who will be 68 in a month, said it's time to step down after his second stint as mayor. Sean Barnes is the lone mayoral candidate in Alexandria, which is fine with Jasper.

“I think we’re kind of like-minded, so I was comfortable stepping down," Jasper said. "I’ve been saying for a few years I’d like to pass the baton. He’s coming into serve, not bringing an agenda. I think the village is going to be in good hands moving forward.”

In Hanover, Mayor Jeff Collins will not seek reelection. Brandon Hale is the only mayoral candidate on the ballot..

Newark's Jeff Hall, seeking a fourth term as mayor, faces write-in candidate Daniel Crawford. Kirkersville Mayor Terry Ashcraft has two opponents: Lester Anderson and Nickolas Takach. Hartford’s Greg Retherford will be opposed by Mary Wehner.

Gratiot’s Melanie Kish, St. Louisville’s David Allen and Utica’s James Quinif are unopposed in their bids for reelection.

In Newark and Heath, candidates filed their petitions before a Feb. 1 primary election deadline.

Licking County Municipal Judge David Stansbury, Heath City Council members and auditor and Newark city officials, all incumbents, face no opposition.

The only contested race in Newark is city council at-large, where current Republican council members Spencer Barker and Bradley Chute will be joined on the ballot by Republican Dustin Neely and Democrat Bill Cost, a former council member. Three of the four will be elected.

Several villages do not have enough candidates to fill all the open council positions. The exception is Granville, which has five candidates for four seats. The Granville candidates are: Phillip Demarest, Jeremy Johnson, Joseph Leithauser, Matt McGowan and Laura Mickelson.

All 25 townships in the county will elect one trustee and one fiscal officer. Ten townships will have a contested election. The only townships with more than two candidates are Etna with five and Liberty with three.

Growth and development in the western part of the county did not bring out more candidates than other areas. Half of the 10 townships with multiple candidates are on the eastern half of the county, mostly in the southeast.

Newark City Schools has eight candidates for three open seats on the board. They are: John Ault, Tom Bline, Timothy Carr, Shirley Hollins, Cindy Neely, Marc Stephens, Warren Weber and Michael Wiley.

Southwest Licking had five file for two positions. Granville has five candidates for three seats. Licking County Educational Service Center and Lakewood were the only districts without enough candidates for all elected positions.

kmallett@newarkadvocate.com

740-973-4539

Twitter: @kmallett1958

Who will be on November ballot?

Following are the candidate filings as of Wednesday's filing deadline to appear on the Nov. 7 general election ballot, according to the Licking County Board of Elections. The number in parentheses is the number to be elected. If no candidate name appears following the parentheses, that means no candidate filed for the office.

County

Municipal Court Judge (1): David Stansbury

Cities

  • Heath: Auditor (1): Jay Morrow. Council at-large (4): Deb Cole, Jeff Crabill, Tim Kelley, James Roberts (write-in).

  • Johnstown: Council full-term beginning 1/1/24 (3): Donny Barnard, Jeffrey Barr, Kyle Cook, Kristen Hurst, Tiffany Hollis. Unexpired term ends 12/31/25 (3): Wesley Kobel, Robert Orsini, Dave Selan, Nicole Shook.

  • Newark: Mayor (1): Daniel Crawford (write-in), Jeff Hall. Auditor (1): Ryan Bubb. Law Director (1): Tricia Moore. Council president (1): Jeff Harris. Council at-large (3): Spencer Barker, Bradley Chute, Bill Cost, Dustin Neely.

  • Pataskala: Council Ward 1 (1): Leatrice Guttentag, Thomas Lee. Council Ward 2 (1): Mary Louise Hite. Council Ward 3 (1): Deborah Kohman. Council Ward 4 (1): Brandon Galik, Mary Miller.

  • Reynoldsburg: Mayor (1): Joe Begeny. City attorney (1): Chris Shook. Council president (1): Meredith Lawson Rowe. Council 2nd Ward (1): Louis Salvati. Council 3rd Ward (1): Bhuwan Pyakurel.

Villages

  • Alexandria: Mayor (1): Sean Barnes. Council (2). No filings.

  • Buckeye Lake: Council (4): Don Cable, John Lemmon.

  • Granville: Council (4): Phillip Demarest, Jeremy Johnson, Joseph Leithauser, Matt McGowan, Laura Mickelson.

  • Gratiot: Mayor (1): Melanie Kish. Council (2): Pat Porter, Paula Porter.

  • Hanover: Mayor (1): Brandon Hale. Council (2): Donna Renicker. Board of Public Affairs (2): William Fry.

  • Hartford: Mayor (1): Gregory Retherford, Mary Wehner. Council (2): Cynthia Kilgore.

  • Hebron: Mayor (1): Clifford Mason, Valerie Mockus. Council (2): Andrea Chapman, Randy Wolf.

  • Kirkersville: Mayor (1): Lester Anderson, Terry Ashcraft, Nickolas Takach. Council (2): David Engel, Carrie Slone. Board of Public Affairs (2): Judith Casto.

  • St. Louisville: Mayor (1): David Allen. Council (2): Harry Graul, Randy Whisner. Clerk-treasurer (1): Kathy Whisner. Board of Public Affairs (1): Wesley Miller.

  • Utica: Mayor (1): James Quinif. Council (2) No filings.

Townships

  • Bennington: Trustee (1): Carl Day. Fiscal officer (1): Beckie Osborne.

  • Bowling Green: Trustee (1): Stuart Mack, Jack Ward. Fiscal officer (1): Jennifer Duval.

  • Burlington: Trustee (1): Bradford McDaniel. Fiscal officer (1): Wendy Burden.

  • Eden: Trustee (1): Charles Dunlap. Fiscal officer (1): Robin McKee.

  • Etna: Trustee (1): Gary Burkholder, Ryan Davis, Steven Perkins, Matthew Rausenberg, Trent Stepp. Fiscal officer (1): Jacqueline Cotugno.

  • Fallsbury: Trustee (1): Harold Donaker. Fiscal officer (1): Karla McCoy.

  • Franklin: Trustee (1): Joseph Landis, Curt Painter. Fiscal officer (1): Molly Long.

  • Granville: Trustee (1): Rob Schaadt. Fiscal officer (1): Jerry Miller.

  • Hanover: Trustee (1): James Davis, Scott McKenzie. David Thompson. Fiscal officer (1): Nicole Gieseler, Jennifer Nethers.

  • Harrison: Trustee (1): Stephen Clegg, Raymond Foor. Fiscal officer (1): Carolyn Elder.

  • Hartford: Trustee (1): Timothy Debolt, Robert Hoenie. Fiscal officer (1): Adam Lanthorn.

  • Hopewell: Trustee (1): Scott Gutridge, David Medley. Fiscal officer (1): Jennifer Crothers.

  • Jersey: Trustee (1): Jeff Fry. Fiscal officer (1): Marko Jesenko.

  • Liberty: Trustee (1): Douglas King, Bill Siegel, Ed Wasem. Fiscal officer (1): Melodie Bogantz.

  • Licking: Trustee (1): John Cormican. Fiscal officer (1): Andrea Holman Lynch.

  • Madison: Trustee (1): Doug Barr. Fiscal officer (1): Jennifer McFarland.

  • Mary Ann: Trustee (1): Timothy German. Fiscal officer (1): Annette Hupp.

  • McKean: Trustee (1): Dannette McInturff. Fiscal officer (1): Lindsey Hoskinson.

  • Monroe: Trustee (1): Troy Hendren, Jonathon Merriman. Fiscal officer (1): Debra Farley.

  • Newark: Trustee (1): Thomas Zigan. Fiscal officer (1): Bryan Long.

  • Newton: Trustee (1): Jeffery Hindel. Fiscal officer (1): Alicia Preston.

  • Perry: Trustee (1): Mike McArtor. Fiscal officer (1): Brittany Carson.

  • St. Albans: Trustee (1): Randy Almendinger. Fiscal officer (1): Bridgett Reeves.

  • Union: Trustee (1): John Slater. Fiscal officer (1): Jessica Slater.

  • Washington: Trustee (1): Nelson Smith. Fiscal officer (1): Abby Shipley.

School district boards of education

  • Granville (3): Amy Deeds, Megan Reed, Ceciel Shaw, Fred Wolf. Unexpired term ends 12/31/25 (1): John Kronk.

  • Heath (3): Debra Kelley, Melody Klontz, Jamie Mills, Dianne Winter.

  • Johnstown-Monroe (3): Alan Benton, Amanda Davis, Anne Thomas.

  • Lakewood (2): Brittany Misner, Brandon Salyer, Jeremiah Weekly. Unexpired term ends 12/31/25 (1): No filings.

  • Licking County ESC (2): Joe Shannon.

  • Licking Heights (2): Tiffany Blumhorst, Hannington Tsikiwa.

  • Licking Valley (2): Paul Durbin, Drake McArtor, Jo Lynn Torbert.

  • Newark (3): John Ault, Tom Bline, Timothy Carr, Shirley Hollins, Cindy Neely, Marc Stephens, Warren Weber, Michael Wiley.

  • North Fork (2): Jordan Atherton, Andrew Hollenback, Debra Paxton.

  • Northridge (2): Katlyn Creager, Evelyn Vance, Geoffrey Wiggins. Unexpired term ends 12/31/25 (1): Jayma Bammerlin.

  • Southwest Licking (2): Kandee Engle, Cory Ford, Michael Miller, Debra Moore, Alexander Smiley.

This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Licking County candidates seek local government, school board spots