Occupation
Director, Community & Civic Engagement, Ohio State Wexner Medical Center
Education
BSBA & BA, Ohio State University
Qualifications for Office
Led Issue 32 Campaign, Parks Advisory Board Member
Grandview Heights has experienced massive demographic growth and change through the past decade. That growth has come with a refreshed tax base that has allowed for needed reinvestments in our community schools, public safety, and parks. I am proud to have led the campaign to build our new public safety and parks buildings. Now that those investments have been made, a challenge facing Grandview Heights is how to maintain our stellar financial reputation as a city while completing those current projects and supporting future growth.
We also have to ensure that we keep the doors into Grandview Heights open. Growth makes our community better, but it shouldn’t change the mixed incomes, races, and religions that make Grandview Heights unique.
Our community is among the smallest in the state to have all local trash, fire, roads, parks, and police services. I led the Issue 32 campaign to ensure that those services and the truly outstanding city staff who care for us will be here for years to come. I will always prioritize our tax dollars to support high quality, local services that care for those who care for us.
Grandview Heights is home to wonderful trees and vibrant green spaces. I will ensure we treasure those resources that make a healthier, cooler, more active community.
We need to comprehensively understand cars in our community. I will encourage a robustly multi-modal future for Grandview Heights that prioritizes transportation centers our health and safety.
We have made massive improvements in our community institutions and infrastructure in the past few years. While the safety and parks buildings are nearly done, the important improvements to our schools continue. I will be a steady hand to ensure these commitments are paid down efficiently and timely to maintain the stellar credit rating of Grandview Heights.
That doesn’t mean there isn’t work to be done. Aside from the critically important regular maintenance of our roads and community infrastructure, we need to continue investing and growing our parks and along Grandview and Goodale Avenues. Our way. It should prioritize walking, biking, tree canopy, housing and business development, while maintaining the character of Grandview Heights.
My profession is community engagement. I started my career as a community organizer and have since led the community trust building work for the Ohio History Connection and the Ohio State Medical Center. It's my life calling and I hope to bring those skills to the government of Grandview Heights. Good community engagement listens and hears residents of a community.
Your council person should be accessible. This town is small enough that you should be able to reach your council person when you want to share a challenge or hope for our community. While you can’t always guarantee agreement, it is the act of hearing out a neighbor that is core to good municipal government. As your council person, I will want to hear from you.
This continues to build on my background in community engagement. Knowing your neighbors and trusting that they want what is best for our kids and community is critical to building consensus. I see it in Grandview Heights everyday. It is a part of what makes us special. We have to be able to trust in that unifying hope for a better Grandview Heights.
Compromise is not a dirty word. It's how we resolve our differences to move forward. I will build big tents with big tables in them. Bringing our neighbors into decision making processes and being transparent about how decisions were made are key to trustworthy local government. I think we can do even better than we do now and I want to help set that standard.
Campaign Phone
740-504-8246
Occupation
Non-profit leader
Education
Bachelor of Arts from Denison University and Master of Science from The Ohio State University
Qualifications for Office
Melanie Houston has served two terms on Grandview Heights City Council. She has chaired the communications and technology, planning and administration, and safety committees. She brings nearly fifteen years of policy experience and an inclusive leadership approach to her council role.
Our city continues to face revenue uncertainty given the work-from-home trend that emerged during the pandemic (which continues to depress our income tax collections) and the continued threats to our property tax base from the Ohio statehouse. I will work with our administration to leverage federal and state grants and loans and to find innovative opportunities to increase our revenues without financially tapping out our residents. The climate crisis is one that we all face and have a responsibility to tackle for our collective future and for future generations. In Grandview, our next step should be to take stock of all of our greenhouse gas emissions, and from there, to develop a climate action and resiliency plan.
A key third-term focus of mine will be ensuring that Grandview is a leader in addressing the challenges associated with climate change. With the federal government backing away from our climate commitments and investments and the state of Ohio lagging behind with regard to renewable energy development, there is a great need for local governments to step up. I will seek to work with the administration and technical experts to create a climate action and resiliency plan. This plan should have specific measurable targets. I will also work with the administration to more rapidly electrify our city fleet and add EV charging stations in our community, to increase our tree canopy, to support bike transportation & to invest in green infrastructure.
I will work to make Grandview Heights as inclusive and welcoming as possible as our region grows. We live in a community with exceptional city services, schools, and amenities. Yet, our community has become less accessible as housing costs have soared. I believe our city should aim to lower barriers of entry for folks wishing to join our community. That’s why I co-sponsored legislation that prohibits discrimination based on a person’s source of income when they seek rental housing in our community. I’m proud to report that this legislation passed–an important step toward making Grandview more inclusive.
Over my last two terms, I have advocated for residents' concerns on numerous issues. One example is my advocacy for the city to invest in replacing our outdated and dangerous lead service lines which carry drinking water from the water main to residents' homes. Specifically, I encouraged our city to earmark part of our federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act to help our residents replace their portion of the lead water lines. Recently, I requested that the administration share costs and coordinate lead line replacement to help relieve the burden on residents. In my next term, I will continue to center the community's needs. I will also work to find ways to better engage residents in our council meetings and annual budget talks.
I adhere to an inclusive and collaborative leadership approach. In practice, this involves collecting input from interested parties, actively listening to community, and finding the common ground. One example of my leadership was when our community members were dealing with a problematic short-term rental property during my first term in office. I used my committee chair role and my strong facilitation skills to organize a public hearing and stakeholder input session which included community members, the short-term rental property owner, voices from the hotel industry, and other voices. All attendees had the opportunity to listen, learn and share their perspectives in a respectful way. This dialogue then helped to inform future legislation.
Campaign Phone
614-562-3003
Occupation
Self-Employed, Pastry Chef
Education
Miami University - BS Business Administration, Marketing Major/Decision Sciences Minor-1989, Ohio State University - M. Ed. Mathematics Education-1993, Le Cordon Bleu Paris - Pastry Chef Diploma-2011
Qualifications for Office
Current councilmember serving since January 2022, twenty-seven year resident of Grandview Heights, past math teacher and SAS programmer, entrepreneur
Housing affordability is a major concern in Grandview as we are losing socio-economic diversity with the rising costs of homes here and the increase of luxury apartments. I plan to work on an ADU pilot in my second term (more below), and look for ways that we can add affordable units to future apartments buildings and preserve existing affordable apartments.
For my second term, I would like to develop an ADU (Accessible Dwelling Unit) pilot. Many homeowners are already making improvements to their garages, and this would give them an opportunity to create a living space that could be used to help offset the cost of their mortgage or allow for a family member to reside nearby. I would also like to continue to push for more sustainability within our government to include installing EV chargers, purchasing EVs as part of the city fleet and adding hybrids as well. We will have our first solar panels over the parking area of the new municipal building, and I'd like to see us add funds in the budget to install them on the roof of that building.
The main reason I ran in 2021 was to add a voice to the council and push to get source of income protections in place for renters. As a community that has nearly 50% of our dwellings as rental properties, it is important that we make our community accessible to those with different income types. We were finally able to pass the SOI legislation in April 2024 with a 6-1 vote. This was one tool in MORPC's Regional Housing Strategy toolkit. We continue to add luxury apartments to our community in The Yard. We need to develop a plan to include affordable units in new buildings that might go in in other parts of Grandview.
In my current role on council, I make it a point to respond to all emails that I receive from residents. I am also often out in the community either walking or as a lead organizer of our weekly farmers' market, and these activities give me a chance to engage with residents and listen to their concerns and priorities.
Getting people to sit and talk with each other and patiently listen to each other in a respectful manner is a key starting point. Asking the stakeholders to have an open mind going into the conversation will benefit the process. Each side should understand what the other side wants in order to work to a resolution or compromise, and time should be given to hear all viewpoints.
Campaign Phone
6142051926
Occupation
Realtor / Entrepreneur
Education
1987 GHHS Graduate, 1990 ACFEI Culinary Graduate, Associates Degree Applied Science
Qualifications for Office
24 Year Incumbent currently serving 6th term on Grandview heights City Council, first elected in 2001. Extensive experience in professional real estate, municipal government, and business. Small business owner/operator for 30+ years. Lifelong resident dedicated to our community.
Our current challenges pale in comparison to what the city has managed to overcome in the past. We’ve done an incredible job and we’ve come a long way during my 24 year tenure, but there is still work to do. State funding cuts to local government and the current trend of passing financial obligations down to the local level will continue to impact our funding and operations. Along with the help of my former and present colleagues, we have managed to keep up with these challenges over the past quarter of a century to ensure the City’s future. Continued progress on smart urban redevelopment and durable fiscal policy is essential. My top priority is to keep the focus on these objectives to remain one of the top communities in the state.
My continued priority is doing everything essential to maintain and enhance city operations. This is often overlooked in a world that has become overburdened with political rhetoric and extreme ideologies. I’m not that guy. My focus is clear: operate the City and provide residents with their local government needs and services; Police, Fire, Sanitation, Service, and Parks/Rec. Working closely with the Finance Director, Mayor, and Department Leaders, I will continue to pursue improvements, through smart urban planning and redevelopment efforts. Aside from that, I plan to make progress on the “Rails to Trails” multi-modal path, greatly enhancing our greenway/pedestrian connectivity to downtown and neighboring communities to the northwest
At just 1.1 square miles, Grandview Heights is much smaller than most people realize. Still, our needs for infrastructure maintenance and improvements are never ending. It's a pretty dull topic, but we aren't a city without it. We've invested $140 Million in capital improvements and infrastructure since I was first elected in 2001, and will continue to pursue these projects into the future. A material increase in our population is unlikely due to our land-locked boundaries, but infrastructure funding is a constant. Public-Private partnerships such as Grandview Yard contribute to our ability in maintaining these needs. Combined with smart and sustainable city planning, our vision for Grandview Heights will remain strong and reliable.
Weighing feedback from stakeholders and residents is always an important part of my decision making. Often times, decisions involve balancing the known feedback with the fiduciary responsibility owed to the City as an entity, as well as considering individuals who have not expressed a viewpoint. A clear path is seldom determined solely by feedback; however, engagement remains essential in the decision-making process. It remains impossible to truly please everyone all of the time - this is where my experience is key, with 24 years on Council, and a lifelong history in Grandview Heights, I've always applied the totality of all aspects in a challenging issue before taking a position, putting aside political games and biased rhetoric.
There are many ways a disagreement could develop, so handling these occasions requires some dynamics; what are the circumstances of the disagreement? Is it based on one's personal beliefs or bias? Is it possible that more information is needed - are there ample facts or data? The potential also exists that there are political or religious ideologies managing one's thoughts. The road to consensus can take many forms. Consensus certainly doesn't mean that everyone gets everything they want all the time. My approach is to understand the objections, provide facts, challenge the conversation with alternate views, and allow for a margin of dissent - knowing that it is unlikely that literally everyone will necessarily agree on the outcome.
Campaign Phone
614-738-4074
Occupation
IT Consultant
Qualifications for Office
I'm a major influencer in a multi-million dollar IT department. I have a long history of public service.
This community does not seem to like any kind of change. But, change is inevitable. I hear people say that all the changes in the recent past have ruined the city. I don't agree. Things have changed but the underlying heart of this city has remained the same. For example, there are new schools but our teachers are the same great educators. The feeling I get when I walk those halls and interact with the staff and faculty is the same as it always has been. I will push for future progress to be done in a responsible manner so this city never loses it's heart.
I'd like to follow through with the city's parts of the 1st and Grandview District Plan. I'd like to form partnerships with the local businesses that will benefit from these improvements.
I'd also like to create some initiative to clean up some of our alleys that have fallen to disarray. There are local civic groups that provide limited funds and volunteer power. I'm happy to get out there and volunteer as well.
With the impending completion of The Grandview Yard and Grandview Crossing, we have a lot of housing coming available. All of that infrastructure has been planned and executed and done very well. We have little room for expansion beyond that. I would like to see some more affordable housing open up but that's going to be mainly driven by the market and out of the city's control.
I would like to set up office hours before the council meetings and also set up bi-monthly availablity that would flip flop between a coffee hour and a happy hour to engage the community in a more informal setting.
I'm a very objective listener. I will approach issues without bias. I will gather all of the information from the stakeholders and weigh them according to the needs of the city and my own values. Knowing that I can't please everyone, I need to be satisfied that I made the best decision for the city that I could with the information I had.
Campaign Phone
(614)2565935
Occupation
Attorney
Education
The Ohio State University/ West Virginia University
Qualifications for Office
Three-Term Council Member, Council Vice Preseident, Finance Chair
Providing needed infrastructure and public service investment while keeping property taxes in check. This can be done by prioritizing community investment while being as fiscally responsible as possible.
Investing in infrastructure, roads and services while exercising fiscal responsibility in order to keep the city's AAA bond rating is my primary priority. This is done by being fiscally responsible in all public spending and investments.
Increasing housing to meet demand is key to providing affordable housing. Grandview Heights has worked on a substantial amount of economic development agreements that have included housing. Although Grandview Heights is a land-locked community, the city has prioritized increased investment in housing in my tenure on City Council.
I have always been very responsive to constituents, whether it be policy proposals or a particular city service need. Whenever a resident has reached out to me with a problem or issue, I have worked with the Administration to see if the city can resolve their particular problem.
I have worked with various colleagues on City Council when there are policy differences to see if compromise can be achieved in passing legislation. I have been a legislative attorney in two state legislatures, and I believe this skill set has allowed me to help build consensus in order to pass good legislation. An example of this was my working with my colleagues in 2015 when there was initial disagreement to come up with income tax relief legislation that was unanimously passed.
