2024 Election Preview: 2 countywide levies, judicial race, 7 other issues on local ballots

Early voting for the Tuesday, Nov. 5 general election begins Tuesday, Oct. 8, and addition to the presidential, congressional and Supreme Court elections, there are a number of local issues for Highland County voters to consider, plus a judicial race in Madison Township.

Countywide, there are two levies on the ballot, including one for the Children Services agency and one for the Health Department.

The Children Services levy will appear on the ballot as Issue 10, a proposed 0.9-mill, five-year levy renewal “providing funds for the support of children services and the care and placement of children.”

As previously reported, according to Highland County Job & Family Services Director Jeremy Ratcliff, the Children Services agency will place a five-year, 0.9-mill renewal levy on the ballot for the Nov. 5 general election, as they are “on pace for $4.1 million” in placement costs this calendar year. Of that $4 million, the levy would help offset “about 17 percent of what we need,” Ratcliff said July 17.

The levy “amounts to $24 for each $100,000 of the county auditor’s appraised value” and is not based on the new 2024 valuations, but rather the valuations at the time the levy was first enacted, Ratcliff told commissioners.

A proposed five-year, one-mill replacement levy for the agency failed in the Nov. 7, 2023 general election. A subsequent attempt to return to the previous 0.9 millage, through a levy issue on the March 19 primary ballot, was also voted down.

The Health Department levy is Issue 9 and is proposed as a replacement of two existing levies and decrease of 0.3 mill. If enacted, it would be a 0.7-mill, five-year levy.

A handout from Health Commissioner Jared Warner says the “Health Department is asking the community to pass a 0.70-mill levy on Nov. 5, 2024. This levy will be a combined and reduced levy, meaning that the overall amount of taxes collected from Highland County property owners will be less than the current health department levy rates. Passing this levy will reduce taxes, while still giving the health department funds for operation.”

Currently, the Health Department has two half-mill levies. The new Health Department levy, if approved, would “amount to $25 for each $100,000 of the county auditor’s appraised value.”

Greenfield voters have a proposal to change the village’s form of government to consider, while voters throughout Madison Township have two judicial candidates on the ballot for Highland County Court Judge.

Issue 4, for the Village of Greenfield by petition, asks voters whether “the municipal corporation of Greenfield [shall] abandon the City Manager Plan and adopt the Federal Plan as provided in sections 705.71 to 705.86 of the Revised Code.”

On May 8, 2007, Greenfield voters approved organizing the village under a new city manager form of government as provided in Ohio Revised Code 705.41-705.86. Currently, village council members are selected, and council hires the city manager.    

According to the ORC, under the “Federal Plan, “In municipal corporations adopting such plan, the only elective officers shall be the mayor and members of council.”

Meanwhile, current city manager Todd Wilkin this week announced his resignation, effective Oct. 15, citing “new opportunities.”

As noted, Madison Township will also be electing a new judge for the first time in four decades, as candidates John Judkins and James Roeder are seeking the County Court Judge seat held by Judge Robert J. Judkins since 1983. This is a nonpartisan race.

According to his campaign site, John Judkins “has extensive experience in felony and misdemeanor criminal work throughout his 15-year law career,” including as an assistant prosecutor in Chillicothe Municipal Court as an assistant law director since 2021. He has a law office in Greenfield, where he has worked since 2009, and “has handled civil litigation in the Federal United States District Court, the Ohio Supreme Court and various other courts throughout Ohio,” his campaign site says.  

According to his campaign page, Roeder has served as a Highland County assistant prosecutor since 2015, where he prosecutes cases filed in Highland County Court, plus other felony adult court proceedings and in Juvenile Court. He has “argued cases in front of the Third and Fourth District Courts of Appeals and the Ohio Supreme Court” and formerly served as Clinton County Assistant Prosecutor (2013-15). He has been a licensed attorney since 2003, his campaign page says.

Aside from the two countywide levies and the Greenfield issue, there are six other local issues on the ballot. Those include:

• The Village of Leesburg (Issue 2) will vote on whether the village “shall have the authority to aggregate the retail electric loads in the Village [and] enter into service agreements to facilitate for those loads the sales and purchase of electricity” for all residents except those opting out. A similar issue was passed in Hillsboro in 2023.

• Voters in the Village of Mowrystown (Issue 3) have a proposed additional tax levy on the ballot. If enacted, this would be a five-mill, five-year levy for current expenses.

• Greenfield South voters (Issue 5) have a local liquor option regarding Sunday sales at La Bamba/El Canon, a Mexican restaurant on Jefferson Street.

• Clay Township voters (Issue 6) have a tax levy renewal on the ballot for cemetery expenses. As proposed, this would be a 0.5-mill, five-year levy to maintain and operate township cemeteries.

• Marshall Township voters (Issue 7) will consider a proposed tax levy renewal for fire expenses. The issue is presented as a 3.9-mill, five-year levy “for the purpose of providing and maintaining fire apparatus, appliances, buildings and sites therefore, and sources of water supply and material, and the payment of permanent, part-time or volunteer firefighters or firefighting companies to operate the same.” It also includes the purchase of “ambulance equipment, and to provide ambulance, paramedic or other emergency medical services operated by a fire department or firefighting company.”

• Fairfield West voters (Issue 8) will determine whether the Highland 1st Stop shall be permitted to sell beer, wine and mixed beverages.

In other local races, Randy Sanders, who was appointed Highland County Sheriff after former Sheriff Donnie Barrera retired, is running for his first official term in office. Sanders previously defeated Brandon Stratton in the 2024 primary.

Incumbents seeking reelection for all of their respective offices, with no opposition, include:

• County Commissioners Terry Britton (term commencing Jan. 3) and David Daniels (term commencing Jan. 2);

• Prosecutor Anneka Collins;

• Clerk of Common Pleas Court Dwight “Ike” Hodson;

• Recorder Chad McConnaughey;

• Engineer Chris Fauber;

• Coroner Jeff Beery; and

• Treasurer Vickie Warnock.

Democratic candidate Ellen Yvette Clark, a nurse, will oppose Republican incumbent Bob Peterson in the race for State Representative for the 91st Ohio House District.

Fourth District Court of Appeals Judges Mike Hess and Jason Smith are both running unopposed for reelection.

Running for the 5th District representative seat on the State Board of Education are Mary Binegar, a retired educator, and Hava Loudon, owner of an accounting firm.

Statewide, Issue 1 is a proposed constitutional amendment “to create an appointed redistricting commission not elected by or subject to removal by the voters of the state.”

According to the group who proposed the amendment, Citizens Not Politicians, “Right now in Ohio, politicians and lobbyists manipulate voting districts to protect their interests and guarantee their re-election. As a result, incumbents running for reelection almost never lose. In other words, we let politicians choose their voters. The Citizens Not Politicians Amendment bans lobbyists and politicians from the process and instead empowers voters to choose their politicians.”

If enacted, Issue 1 would “create [a] 15-member Ohio Citizens Redistricting Commission made up of Democratic, Republican, and Independent citizens who broadly represent the different geographic areas and demographics of the state; ban current or former politicians, political party officials and lobbyists from sitting on the Commission; require fair and impartial districts by making it unconstitutional to draw voting districts that discriminate against or favor any political party or individual politician; [and] require the commission to operate under an open and independent process,” according to citizensnotpoliticians.org.

If the issue fails, there will be no change to the current process with the existing Ohio Redistricting Commission, which includes the governor, auditor, Secretary of State and one appointee each from the Senate President and Minority Leader and from the Speaker of the House and House Minority Leader. For more on Issue 1, see: https://ballotpedia.org/Ohio_Issue_1,_Establish_the_Citizens_Redistrict….

There are three Ohio Supreme Court races on the ballot in November. As reported by Susan Tebben of the Ohio Capital Journal, “Incumbent Democratic Justice Michael P. Donnelly is being challenged by Republican Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas Judge Megan Shanahan.

“Incumbent Democratic Justice Melody Stewart is being challenged by incumbent Republican Justice Joseph Deters, who decided not to run for his current seat and instead chose to go up against Stewart.

“Democratic candidate Lisa Forbes, of the Eighth District Court of Appeals, and Republican candidate Dan Hawkins, of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, are fighting for Deters’ open seat.”

For more, see Tebben’s story at: https://highlandcountypress.com/news/meet-candidates-running-ohio-supre….

Federally, this is a presidential election year, with Republican former President Donald Trump and running mate current U.S. Senator J.D. Vance facing current Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and running mate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

Others on the ballot for president include nonpartisan candidates Richard Duncan/Mitchell Preston Bupp; Libertarians Chase Oliver/Mike ter Maat; Solidarity Party candidates Peter Sonski/Lauren Onak; and Green Party candidates Jill Stein/Anita Rios.

For the U.S. Senate race, Republican Bernie Moreno , a former car dealership owner and “blockchain technology entrepreneur,” will face current U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, a Democrat. Libertarian Don Kissick is also listed as a candidate.

For the Second District Congressional seat currently occupied by Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Hillsboro), David Taylor, a resident of Clermont County and owner of Sardinia Ready Mix, Inc., will face Democratic candidate Samantha Meadows of Chillicothe, who also ran against Wenstrup for the seat in 2022.

To learn more about early voting or voter registration, see the Board of Elections’ story at: https://highlandcountypress.com/news/highland-county-board-elections-an….

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