RICHLAND COUNTY — Cliff Mears, who won another term Tuesday as a Richland County commissioner, quickly said it’s a team game as a member of a three-official board.
“You don’t do anything as a commissioner individually; it’s a team effort,” Mears said Tuesday night. “I think this is the voters’ chance to say they kind of like the way the team’s put together and they want to keep it intact.”
A Republican incumbent, Mears easily turned back the challenge of Democratic newcomer Mark Kaufmann. According to final, unofficial vote totals from the Richland County Board of Elections, Mears received 28,818 votes, 66.57 percent of the ballots cast.
Kaufmann, making his first run for office, received 14,475 votes, 33.43 percent of the total.
Mears, who previously fended off a primary challenge in May, pointed to steady economic development and disciplined fiscal management across the county as the foundation of his re-election victory.
Mears framed the outcome as a voter endorsement of local business expansions, pointing to recent regional growth involving companies like Newman Technology and CNG; a new Avita Health System cancer center; and pending commercial developments across Mansfield and the rest of the county.
Managing that growth responsibly will be the central focus of his upcoming term, Mears said.
He highlighted the county’s work with Richland County Regional Planning on a comprehensive development blueprint, alongside new county building department software aimed at streamlining local commercial and residential permitting.
The commissioner noted the next four years will bring budgetary hurdles, as the final American Rescue Plan Act funds are expended by the end of 2026.
He said Richland County faces mounting operational demands, including rising employee healthcare expenses and increased funding requests from county offices such as the sheriff’s department.
“Balancing the budget’s going to be a challenge in itself, but we are committed to a balanced budget,” Mears said, noting county revenues are rising.
Addressing broader taxpayer anxiety on election night over rising property valuations and citizen-led efforts across Ohio to eliminate property taxes, Mears noted commissioners sought to offer measured local relief while maintaining public services.
Mears pointed to the commissioners’ decision to roll back taxes to provide direct homeowner relief. The board unanimously approved approximately $1.7 million in property tax relief in late 2025, a measure affecting more than 32,000 parcels that commissioners subsequently voted to extend into 2026.
“We’re listening to you. We’re going to give you some relief; we’re not turning our backs on you,” Mears said Tuesday night, emphasizing commissioners sought to strike a sensible balance between easing the burden on residential property owners and maintaining funding for local school districts.
“We thought it was a good balance between the schools and property owners.”
Mears said he believed Kaufmann, a Democratic newcomer seeking to become the party’s first commissioner elected in Richland County in a decade, ran a low-profile campaign.
“I have yet to meet him, and in politics, you can’t keep a low profile,” Mears said.
Mears credited his win to broad grassroots support and a dedicated campaign team, giving particular praise to his wife, Cheryl, for her door-to-door canvassing.
Mears will begin his new four-year term in january. He was appointed to the county Board of Commissioners in 2021 to complete an unexpired term and ran a successful campaign to be retained in 2022.
Mears, unopposed in the general election four years ago, is a former member of Mansfield City Council.
During the campaign, the retired Kaufmann said he was self-employed, operating a small food distribution company.
He served from 2002 to 2011 as a member of the Michigan Employment Security Board of Review, representing the interest of employees in unemployment insurance matters, hearing appeals from administrative courts and advising the government on unemployment insurance questions.
Kaufmann said he worked from 1991 to 2002 as a representative of the United Auto Workers International Union, helping to litigate employment and trade-related issues. He moved to Richland County in 2021.
“I have witnessed our current Board of Commissioners make repeated decisions that are contrary to the general public interest,” Kaufmann said during his campaign. “I hope to bring some accountability to a Commission which seems to be driven by short-term political expediency, rather than the long-term general welfare.
“I will listen to all segments of our community, not just the politically well connected. I intend to take the long view and act as much as possible in the interest of our children and grandchildren’s future,” Kaufmann said during the campaign.
