PERRYSVILLE — Voters in Perrysville will have to wait to find out who their next mayor will be, but one thing is clear: it won’t be incumbent Mayor Heather Mullinex.
Both Steve Goines and Robert Zakutni earned 84 votes, according to final, unofficial results from Ashland County Board of Elections. Mullinex tallied 39 votes.
Perrysville Council candidates Chris Clady and Larry Sprang cleaned up with 38.94% and 33.99% respectively, edging incumbent Lonnie Harris II.
Ashland County Board of Elections Deputy Director Shannon Johnson said there are still 300 provisional ballots to make part of the official tally, along with around 150 absentees.
The results will be certified on Nov. 20, she said.
Goines, a Perrysville villager since third grade, was first elected to council in November 2021, serving since January 2022.
He has said he’d like to improve communication between elected officials and the public.
Other priorities include re-establishing a village police department (instead of the current reliance on the Ashland County Sheriff’s Office) and to resume efforts to annex Mansfield Plumbing Products’ facility into the village.
Goines works as a truck driver for Skybox Packaging in Mansfield.
Zakutni, who lives in the village with his wife, said his priority would be getting jobs for Perrysville residents.
The retired custodian of Ashland Theological Seminary of 34 years also has said he wants to bring the community together by possibly bringing back the Perrysville Street Fair.
Council candidates
Clady, 51, was appointed to serve on council in November 2022 to replace Mel Eggerton, who resigned in October 2022.
Clady was first appointed to council in October 2004. He filled a vacancy and was then appointed mayor in December 2006, after Mayor Colleen Nall’s death. He resigned from the mayorship in June 2010.
This was Clady’s first campaign.
He was not immediately available to comment.
Clady and his wife and three children have lived in Perrysville since 2001. He works as a general manager at McDonalds, a position he’s held for nearly 20 years.
He also works in sales for All-Star Gaming, a Youngstown company specializing in Ohio’s charitable gaming market.
Sprang, 68, said he was surprised by Tuesday’s results.
“I really didn’t think I was going to make it,” he said, adding he’s excited to start his fourth time on council.
Sprang has served three other terms on council — but he’s never run a campaign to be elected. Around 15 years ago, he said, he worked with a board to form the Green-Perrysville Joint Fire District.
He’s looking forward to his time on council, he said. Front of mind for him is working to get a company to replace the Mansfield Plumbing Products building and getting the facility annexed into the village.
Sprang worked 28 years at Hydromatic Pump in Ashland before it closed.
He then worked various odd jobs to pay the bills. Sprang has lived in Perrysville and the Loudonville area his entire life.
He has five brothers — three of which live within five miles of his house on First Street.
Sprang ran because he wants to help bring some changes to the village.