Mansfield voters will have choices among 4 City Council races in 2025

MANSFIELD — Voters will have ballot choices in May and November in terms of selecting members of Mansfield City Council.

The filing deadline for the May 6 primary election was Wednesday at 4 p.m. and it appears no council candidate will walk through the entire 2025 election cycle unchallenged, according to the Richland County Board of Elections website.

Here is how the City Council races shape up, though the Richland County Board of Elections will meet Feb. 11 at 10 a.m. to certify petitions and set the official ballot.

Until that meeting, all petitions are classified “pending review.”

At-large

There are no contested races in the primary, but the November general election will match two current members of council.

Current At-large Councilwoman Shari Robertson was appointed by local Republicans in October to complete the unexpired term of Stephanie Zader after she resigned from office.

Robertson has filed to seek to retain the seat.

Current Democratic council President Phil Scott, who was unopposed for that seat in 2023, has filed petitions to seek a return to the at-large position and would oppose Robertson in November.

If Scott wins in November, local Democrats would pick his replacement as council president to complete the term. Under the city’s charter, the council president only votes in the event of a tie among the eight other council members.

1st Ward

The race to replace outgoing Republican Laura Burns is the most crowded among council races. Burns announced in December she would not seek re-election.

Burns was appointed by local Republicans in January 2020 to complete an unexpired term and was then elected to the seat in 2021.

Two Republicans and two Democrats will compete for the position.

In the GOP primary, Lori Cope and Michael Miranda have filed petitions. On the Democratic side, Amy Rainey and Amber Thompson are seeking the win in May.

The winners of those two races would face each other in November.

3rd Ward

There will be no contested race in the primary, but there will be a contest in November.

Republican Rev. Eleazer Akuchie has filed petitions seeking his second term after winning in 2021.

In the general election, he will meet Crystal Davis Weese, a Democrat who has filed petitions for the office.

Fifth Ward

There will be no contested race in May.

The current independent, Aurelio Diaz, was elected to his first term in 2021 as a Democrat. He announced five months later he was changing to become an independent.

Diaz has filed as an independent to seek re-election and his name will be on the November ballot.

Vera Joetta McCruter-Polk, a Democrat, will be the only name on the ballot from the 5th Ward in May.

With no Republican on the primary ballot, she will advance to meet Diaz in November.

There will be no contested primary races among candidates for Shelby City Council.

Primary ballot issues

There are multiple tax issues headed to the primary ballot, including two city-wide income tax questions.

The City of Mansfield is seeking the renewal of a pair of four-year, quarter-percent tax issues — the Pothole Haters Tax and the PRIDE tax. As renewals, neither tax represents an increase.

Both issues, each of which will generate about $4.8 million annually, were overwhelmingly approved in May 2021.

The Pothole Haters issue received support from 76.2 percent of city voters four years ago while the PRIDE tax was approved by 72.3 percent of the voters.

“Crucial is the best way to describe both of these taxes,” Mayor Jodie Perry said in December.

“The PRIDE tax funds a good chunk of our safety services, demolitions and our entire parks budget, other than what we allocated this year from the general fund.

“We do millions of dollars of street resurfacing every year and we would not have the money in our budget to do that work without these funds,” Perry said of the Pothole Haters Tax.

Madison Township will ask voters to approve the replacement of a 5.5-mill, continuous property tax for the township fire department.

(Below is a PDF showing all of the tax and other issues scheduled for the May 6 primary ballot around Mansfield and Richland County.)