For the first time in nearly two decades, two candidates are running for Heath’s mayor: incumbent Mark Johns and political newcomer Kelly Spires.
Johns, 54, has been the city’s mayor since 2009, and in that time, he said he has prioritized economic development and job growth.
“I consider it the greatest honor to serve Heath as mayor,” Johns told The Reporting Project. “I have worked over the years to bring job growth and economic success to the area. I want to continue to support new and old businesses in Heath, and provide jobs for our citizens.”
Spires, 63, a Reynoldsburg native, is challenging incumbent Johns in the Heath mayoral election 0n N0v. 4.
Spires had lived in Heath since 1992 moved his family back to Heath in 2023 after working in Florida for 16 years at Assurant, an insurance company that provides protection for devices, vehicles,but he is not a stranger to Heath: “My son graduated from Heath High School, and we had always intended to move back.”
Spires is taking on Johns because he believes the city, with a population of nearly 11,000 people, is “not progressing.”
“After moving away to Florida and coming back, I saw that this city is not progressing,” he said. “I want to make Heath a great place for the next generation. We have to leave Heath sustainable going forward.”
Spires has a 90-day plan, he said, if he wins the mayor’s seat on Nov. 4, Election Day.
First, he wants to open a better line of communication between the city government and residents. Spires wants to host meetings with the public every two weeks or every month.
“The residents are our bosses,” Spires said. “I want them to feel like I am always available to them. A meeting where they can come by, ask questions, and bring up things we are missing.”
“I want to increase transparency with financial statements from the city, making sure citizens can track the money the city is spending. The reports were not available for the 2024 financial year,” Spires said. He also plans to introduce the OhioCheckbook to Heath, allowing citizens to closely track what their city government is spending.
Heath auditor Jay Morrow said previous financial reports are available to anyone who wants to look at them, and the 2024 reports will be available to the public soon. The city had to request an extension for 2024 reports from the state due to technical issues with the digital system. The state will return the statements once they have been audited, and then the statements will be available to the public.
Government transparency and efficiency are core to Spires’s campaign.
“The minutes for the current meetings don’t always match what is said at the city council meetings,” Spires said. “I want to livestream and archive each of our meetings so the public has access to what is actually said.”
Spires said that currently, the Heath City Council is not as transparent with its residents as he would like it to be.
Johns said he has been transparent and encourages citizens to reach out with concerns and comments. He said he loves to hear from the community.
“We log all of the minutes from city council meetings, something separate from my office, but residents need to know what is happening,” Johns said.
Johns has worked to bring industry to Heath throughout his tenure. “Growth in industry remains a top priority. Job growth, business growth especially of the manufacturing manor, here in Heath, has long been an economic engine for our community. …We have seen a tremendous amount of success over the last 15 years in attracting new manufacturers to our area and diversifying our manufacturing job base.”
Johns plans to continue to bring manufacturers to Heath and is working to prepare the city for ongoing development.
“Development pays for infrastructure needs that development needs,” Johns said, adding that he believes that manufacturers should bear the cost of infrastructure improvements, not residents.
“Microsoft is coming to Heath, and we negotiated with them to lead infrastructure projects like road improvements and water/sewer expansion, helping the city as a whole and providing infrastructure benefits,” Johns said.
He also believes in supporting small businesses.
“Heath is attractive to all sized businesses, and people come from all over the county to utilize Heath’s commercial businesses,” Johns said. “I have been successful in maintaining small- to medium-sized businesses in the city.”
Throughout his tenure, Johns has supported increased access to public transportation and implementation of the HOME Court, an alternative court process for unhoused people facing misdemeanors under a local law that makes it illegal to “camp,” or sleep, on public property.
Inspired by Newark City’s implementation, Johns and the Heath Police Department Chief David W. Haren, and Heath City law director David Morrison met with Newark’s team, Chief Erik McKee and Law Director Tricia M. Moore, to gain “a full understanding of the value of the program, not the media’s portrayal at the time. We got to learn what the program actually is. It is meant to be a diversionary program option, so that people who are homeless can have access to resources, agencies, and assistance, geared toward helping them to break their cycle of homelessness.”
Johns has also worked to begin development on a town center in Heath. Johns credits his predecessor, former Mayor Dan Dupps for first presenting development ideas to him.
“I remember when I first took office, seeing the renderings of what that area could look like. It has been a project I have been excited to be a part of and help bring closer to fruition. It’s a large amount of land and quite a bit of development, so we are moving at a deliberate pace to make sure that the one chance that we have for it to be successful for the city and the development is something that is achieved.”
Johns expects early next year for utility lines to be run toward the potential Heath City center. Johns says he has had a role in this and pushed for two big fundamental principles with the project: “The first, the Heath City School District will not be financially harmed, and we entered into a school compensation agreement with the district that all parties believe achieves that. Second, the city’s financial risk should be mitigated as much as possible. We also have achieved that through the development agreement. I also work to provide the developer with some local perspective on the look and feel of what would be good in our community.”
Spires has heard residents say that their biggest concerns are homelessness, speeding, drugs and the overall community feel. Spires plans to expand the current police and fire departments to help respond to emergencies.
Johns has been expanding the reach of residential opportunities for Heath, “The housing development that is the furthest along where you are going to see ground break, is the South Fork Ridge development.” This development will have 240 home subdivisions in the Lakewood School District. According to Johns, the Town Center development and the South Fork Ridge development are the most advanced concepts, where the City and Developers are far enough along with detail.
“We need to better address these issues in the long term,” Spires said.
“Right now, we have two fire stations and five personnel to split between the two at any given time,” Spires said. “I believe they just hired two more, but still, we need to better address these issues in the long term,” he said.
While Johns has worked to increase staffing for the fire department since he started serving as mayor, Spires is concerned with the division of a unit of firefighters between the two stations.
“There can be only three and two at each station at a time,” Spires said. “This does not include the fire chief or fire inspector.”
Johns said that when he was first elected, there were only 15 firefighters total.
“This meant if someone was sick or had to miss part of their 24-hour shift, those who had just worked 24 hours had to stay to cover for them,” Johns said. “Now, there are 21 firefighters in total, seven per unit, and there is plenty of personnel to cover the city.
“I also hired a fire inspector, something we didn’t have before,” he said. “Our department provides an excellent level of service, and we cut our overtime costs in half by expanding the personnel.”
Spires said he is against frivolous spending, citing a purchase of a new $1.7 million ladder fire truck.
“We already have a fire truck with a ladder that we are now trying to sell, but why spend close to $2 million on something we already have?”
Spires also considers the new pickleball courts to be unnecessary spending.
“I don’t have anything against pickleball; my grandkids play and love it, but when we are spending close to $1 million on new courts with no lights, we aren’t getting our money’s worth. I would rather see us spend money on the infrastructure we already have to serve our youth than spend on new parks.”
Johns sees the pickleball courts as a way to attract people to the city of Heath.
“We did not pay for the new courts in full as a city, rather in partnership with others,” Johns said. “We applied for a grant through the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and led a community-wide campaign to raise $220,000 for the courts.”
If elected, Spires plans to create a small business council.
“I want to have a finger on the pulse of what the city can do to help small businesses and entrepreneurs grow,” he said.
According to Spires, Heath has spent too much time catering to large corporations.
“My strategic growth plan includes supporting these small businesses,” he said. “For years, Heath has let in big corporations that receive tax abatements. Pretty much all they pay is payroll taxes, which doesn’t help the little guy.”
Spires says he comes from the world of small business. He worked in a partnership to open and run a used Mazda-Pontiac car dealership, where he said he was profitable after his first year of opening. He has worked with ADP – a company that provides human resources management software and services – as a sales manager at different levels and running the national sales force, and then moved to Assurant, where he started in local sales and eventually worked his way to regional manager. After returning to Heath, Spires opened his own company, Dealer Solutions Network, a specialty insurance agency.
Spires wants to expand resources for first responders and work to help support them. This includes integrating more training for police officers and working with the schools to integrate school resource officers, helping to build a better rapport between children and law enforcement.
Homelessness is another issue Spires looks to tackle. “While I don’t know everything now, once I get into office, it is a goal of mine to work with others who are already involved to come up with permanent solutions.”
Delaney Brown 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.