The Nov. 3 ballot gives Richland County voters a choice between keeping a Republican incumbent or electing the first Democrat to the commissioner seat in a decade, according to Richland Source.
Both candidates live in Mansfield. Cliff Mears, 73, was appointed to the county Board of Commissioners in 2021 to finish an unexpired term, then won retention in 2022 after earlier service on Mansfield City Council. Mark Kaufmann, 71, a retired small food distribution company owner who moved to the county in 2021, has not held elected office.
Kaufmann said he would seek to undo a 2025 property tax relief measure, require competitive bidding for expenses above $88,700, and repeal restrictions on commercial-scale wind and solar projects. He described the county's doubling of the state's 2.5 percent owner-occupancy credit, effective Jan. 1, as relief that came at schools' expense.
Mears pointed to what he called progress during his tenure: the county's best credit rating, balanced budgets, flood mitigation near Shelby, infrastructure work done without borrowing, sheriff's office investments and preparations along the I-71/Ohio 97 corridor. He named economic growth, limited government and protecting the credit rating as priorities, and said the wind and solar ban followed township requests, with voters later upholding it.
Commissioners form county government's administrative body and hold taxing, budgeting, appropriating and purchasing authority, acting only as a board.