Residents across Granville will be asked to elect three of the five candidates running to represent them on the Granville Village Council in the November election. Of the five running, two – Mayor Melissa Hartfield and Kim Keethler Ball – are incumbent members of the village council, while Matt McGowan is a former member of council and the remaining two candidates – Diane Marshall and Alex Morrow – are political newcomers.
Melissa K. Hartfield
Mayor Melissa K. Hartfield is Granville’s longest-serving mayor.
She will reach her 20th year of service in December 2025, surpassing Augustus “Aug” Rogers, who served for 14 years from 1872 through 1886.
Hartfield maintains a strong tie to the community, as her family has deep roots in Granville. They moved from Virginia in the late 1820s and have been here ever since. Both of Hartfield’s parents have been volunteers all their lives, and she grew up watching their service to the community. Now, as mayor, she said her parents are always the first to ask, “What are you going to do?” It’s almost like having a council meeting with the people who care most, even at home.
Granville is a special place to Hartfield, and she works to preserve what she calls the “charms” and “feeling of Granville.”
To her, that feeling is found in the way the community comes together through local events, how people rally around one another, the schools, the neighborhoods, and the shared sense that Granville is a great place to raise kids and a great place to live.
“My hope is that people 100 years from now can have that same feeling that I had growing up,” said Hartfield.
Throughout her years of service, Hartfield said she has been honored to serve the community and has aimed to be a steady, transparent, reasonable, and accessible leader. Whether through email or in the grocery store, she said, people aren’t afraid to come up and start a conversation.
“You cannot be hardened in your thoughts and positions,” she said. “You have to do a lot of reflection on what’s right for the community, what’s right for our future.”
Hartfield has prioritized water issues and protecting the village’s character while development encroaches from the west.
Other jurisdictions, she said, have been dumping wastewater into the creeks and highways, threatening to pollute Granville’s aquifer.
“If we don’t have enough water or if it’s polluted, that will take generations to repair,” she said. “It will destroy our communities, property values, our school system…the trickle-down effect is just endless. And we have to get those things resolved in a responsible, proper manner.”
Hartfield wants to find a permanent solution to the problem and has been working with other communities as part of a coalition to preserve the water. Her goal is to ensure that the “feeling of Granville” is protected and that residents are not put at risk.
Kim Keethler Ball
Kim Keethler Ball’s love for her children is written all over her face, with a smile at the corner of her lips and softness in her eyes.
Having raised four children in Granville and been closely connected to the village through volunteer work such as the Granville Vacation Bible School and as the owner of Readers’ Garden, Ball sees the village as charming in a very special way—a family-oriented town that values education, with Denison University and Granville’s top-rated school system at its heart, she said.
Ball was first elected to the Granville Village Council in 2021 and places a high priority on both education and safety, wanting children to feel secure while they learn. But she said safety and education go beyond the teachers and schools; it’s cultivated through the entire community.
Ball said it is a citizen’s responsibility to contribute to the community, and serving on the village council now—and hoping to continue—is her way of doing so.
“I really believe in creating community and community spaces for families,” said Ball.
As a co-founder of the Center for the Arts and a lifelong artist—from making bulletin boards when she served as the Christian Education director at the United Church of Granville to helping her kids with their school projects—Ball sees the arts as not only good for the soul but also as a vital part of what makes a community special, giving people something to talk about. The art center is free and accessible to everyone, which reflects her belief that community resources should serve all residents.
That same commitment shapes her approach to development and recreation.
Ball said people fear large developments and their impact, and she believes it’s important to listen to those concerns. She said she sees the value in favoring smaller developments that fit with the community and preserve Granville’s character without putting a “chokehold” on the schools by bringing in an influx of people. Ball also supports the community swimming pool. Having taken her children to the Spring Valley pool, she said younger residents need a place to go, and every child should have the opportunity to learn to swim in the community.
Matt McGowan
Glistening sunlight and lively chatter filled Granville on a Saturday morning as students, parents, and volunteers gathered for the Young Entrepreneurs Showcase. Organized by Granville Middle School education aide Matt McGowan, the event featured students selling everything from handmade bracelets and soaps to used golf balls.
From founding the Young Entrepreneurs Club to volunteering at concession stands at football games and track meets, helping out at Middleton Senior Living and the Fourth of July celebrations, and being an active member of the Granville Kiwanis Club, McGowan works to get people involved in the community, helping make it a more vibrant and livable place.
“If you’re alive, you might as well be involved,” said McGowan.
McGowan sees community involvement as not only essential for sustaining a community but also key to ensuring senior citizens are not forced out. He worries about the lack of affordable housing, high taxes and the challenges seniors face in maintaining their homes as they age, especially without a steady income.
“The senior citizens aren’t represented as well as they used to be. You’d hope seniors could continue to live in the community, but sometimes the decisions made aren’t geared to benefit older people,” said McGowan.
This concern is part of why he values the Licking County Community Center, which offers activities like card games to help seniors stay social and connected. He believes building and maintaining those connections is at the heart of what makes a community thrive.
“You want to live in a community where people talk to each other, and they know their neighbors,” he said.
When McGowan first joined the Granville Village Council nearly 30 years ago, the township and village councils didn’t get along, he recalled. During one parade, the village council and township trustees walked in separate groups. One of McGowan’s first actions on the council was to suggest that they walk together to show unity. And so they did.
“It’s important that we get along with our other neighbors,” said McGowan.
McGowan first served on Granville Village Council from 1996 to 2004, and then again from 2006-2021.
Alex Morrow
Alex Morrow walks down the hallway of Granville High School, pausing to look at the portraits of graduating classes lining the walls.
“Here I am. Here’s your cousins. Here’s your aunt. Here’s your grandfather. Here’s your great-grandfather,” Morrow tells his kids, pointing at the portraits on the wall as he shows them the family’s tie to the village.
About five years ago, Morrow moved his family back to Granville from Gahanna, returning to the place where he was born and raised. He said Granville has a strong sense of connection among its residents and a “unique charm” that draws people in, whether it’s the schools, the community, the people, or the easy access to the outdoors.
Morrow said he wants to be part of the effort to maintain what makes Granville, Granville.
“I don’t want to turn into New Albany, I don’t want to turn into Newark,” he said. “I want us to maintain our unique nature. That’s what makes Granville special.”
Morrow hopes to build stronger partnerships with nearby cities such as Newark, Heath and Johnstown through collaborative efforts to protect farmland from being turned into developments built only for profit. Developers, he said, are often focused on “making a quick dollar and then leaving,” with no lasting legacy or concern for the community’s future.
“I want to make sure Granville has a seat at the table during annexation conversations,” he said. “In partnership with our neighbors, we can work on overlay districts and carve out special protections for our farming community to maintain the land we rely on for food and agriculture.”
This passion stems from growing up in the village and the desire to maintain it for future generations.
Morrow said the campaign process has given him the chance to meet many people and hear about their concerns and what they love about Granville.
“Almost every single person said, ‘18-wheelers are coming through our village and clipping the corner, and it’s only a matter of time before a small child is too close to the curb,’” he said.
The village has installed more substantive curbs and better-designed intersections to improve pedestrian safety. But ultimately, Morrow said, the goal is to reduce the amount of traffic passing through Granville. He sees value in collaborating with the Ohio Department of Transportation and neighboring communities to achieve that.
Morrow wants to figure out how to route traffic effectively around Granville while still allowing necessary vehicles into the village. “How do we lessen the burden of those vehicles, which can cause a lot of wear and tear on the roads?” he said.
With a background in electrical engineering and more than 20 years of experience working on large government programs to find innovative solutions to complex problems, Morrow said he has developed skills that have honed his ability to work with difficult problems.
Diane Marshall
Diane Marshall said Granville came to a stop on the day of her brother’s funeral when he passed away on August 16, 1978.
Marshall’s brother, Ken Marshall—two years older than she was—was the “blue ace star” who played football for the Granville High School Class of 1976. The family had moved to Granville from Massachusetts in 1971. Ken died in a pickup truck accident, passing away nine days later, just two weeks before Diane started college.
“This town came together for my family… And I owe it. I owe it to them,” Marshall said.
The people of Granville wrapped their arms around Marshall and her family, and it felt as if the town had paused. Their camaraderie brought warmth and comfort during a difficult time.
That sense of community has continued in Marshall’s life, whether she bumps into friends for a chat by the fire station or stops to comfort a crying child with a stranger, making a new friend on the spot.
Marshall’s community involvement in Granville includes serving as a member of the Tree and Landscape Commission and as board president of the Granville Area Community Improvement Corporation, where she works with the village, chamber of commerce, township and schools to help promote economic development in Granville.
Marshall is concerned about the vacant shops in Granville. She said more businesses should be brought into the downtown area and suggested that lowering rental rates would be better than leaving stores empty.
“Let’s be really creative about what we put in… we want to do something that’s great for the students and great for the residents,” she said. “Let’s make it more vibrant… I want Granville to be the place to be.”
Marshall sees the importance of bringing liveliness to Granville through businesses or even art, from public installations to something as small as paintings on the silver boxes in front of the Centenary United Methodist Church.
But it needs to be done “tastefully,” in a way that preserves Granville’s rich history, she said. Institutions like the RobbinsHunter Museum, the Bryn Du Mansion, the Granville Historical Society, the Old Academy Building and even St. Luke’s and such “historic charms” in the town should be protected.
Marshall also sees the need to invest in Granville’s infrastructure. She is concerned about the traffic through town and the roads that need repair. She said a two-lane walking and biking trail along Newark-Granville Road is necessary so children can safely ride their bikes to school or anywhere.
“That’s how we grow up here,” Marshall said. “We rode our bikes.”
Donna Chang writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.
Election Day is Nov. 4. Early voting is available at the election board office. Here are the hours:
Monday, Oct. 27: 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 28: 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Oct. 29 through Friday, Oct. 31: 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 1: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 2: 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.