After a year marked by tragedy, a corruption scandal and major changes in county leadership, Scioto County Commissioners Merit Smith and Will Mault have something they didn’t have when they first took office: a mandate from voters.
Both men won election Tuesday to the positions they originally filled by appointment. And now that the uncertainty surrounding their seats is behind them, they’re turning their attention to another serious problem.
The county’s budget.
Asked to name his top three priorities for the coming term, Smith didn’t hesitate.
“The budget. The budget. The budget.”
“If we can’t fix that, we’re in trouble,” Smith said.
From Tragedy to Criminal Charges
Smith and Mault joined the commission under circumstances neither could have anticipated.
Commissioner Cathy Coleman died July 4, 2025, from injuries suffered in a May car accident. Her death left a vacancy on the three-member board and a community mourning a longtime public servant.
On July 29, the Scioto County Republican Central Committee selected Smith to fill Coleman’s seat.
Less than a month later, another crisis hit county government.
Commissioner Bryan Davis was indicted in August 2025 on felony charges stemming from a public corruption investigation involving the Southern Ohio Port Authority and the SOAR Business Park.
Davis was subsequently suspended from office, leaving the commission without another member.
For months, county government operated without a full three-member board.
Eventually, the Republican Central Committee selected Portsmouth businessman Will Mault to temporarily fill Davis’s seat, restoring the commission to full strength.
The legal case against Davis has since been resolved. He pleaded guilty to theft in office, receiving stolen property and filing a false tax return. In September, he was sentenced to 30 months in prison.
He’s now serving that sentence at Belmont Correctional Institution.
From Appointed to Elected
Tuesday’s election gave Smith and Mault their first victories at the ballot box as county commissioners.
Mault defeated Democrat Abby Spears, receiving 13,039 votes to her 7,595 in unofficial results.
Smith received 15,463 votes, while his principal write-in challenger, Kathryn Cochran, received 955. The unofficial report also listed 1,192 unresolved write-in votes.
At Thursday’s commissioners meeting, Commissioner Scottie Powell congratulated both men on their victories and their new status as elected commissioners rather than appointees.
For Smith and Mault, the election marks another step away from the turmoil that brought them into office.
But the problems facing county government haven’t disappeared.
The Budget, the Budget, the Budget
Smith said the county has made progress toward understanding its financial situation and getting spending under control.
“We’ve got to get things in line so we know where we are and what kind of shape we’re in,” he said.
He credited other county officeholders with cooperating in the effort.
“We’re making headway, and we’ve got the cooperation of the officeholders, and we’re working on that.”
The county’s financial problems have been a recurring subject at commissioners meetings throughout the year.
And the consequences are becoming increasingly visible.
At Thursday’s meeting, commissioners rejected a $526,000 bid for jail roof repairs because the price exceeded available grant funding. They’re now looking at repairing a smaller portion of the roof.
The county is also losing experienced employees to higher-paying opportunities associated with the massive development at the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon.
Commissioners accepted two resignations Thursday and warned that more employees could leave as the county struggles to compete with private employers and federal contractors.
Mault said he’s learned a great deal during his time as an appointed commissioner.
“I’ve got my feet wet now,” he said.
He expressed hope that the county’s budget situation would improve in the coming year.
Learning What Commissioners Can’t Do
Smith said one of his biggest lessons since taking office has been discovering the limits of a county commissioner’s authority.
“You come in here and you think you have some idea of what commissioners do,” he said.
But he quickly learned that the public often expects commissioners to handle problems that aren’t actually under their control.
“People think we have a whole lot more power than what we do and expect us to do things we can’t do.”
He pointed to a recent visit from a county resident upset about a fire hydrant problem.
The resident came to the commissioners looking for help, but the hydrant was part of Portsmouth’s municipal water system.
That meant the problem wasn’t something commissioners could directly fix.
Smith said part of the job is helping residents find the right people to address their concerns.
“We have to try to work around that and get people in the position to talk to the people they need to talk to.”
A Different Kind of Challenge
When Smith and Mault first joined the commission, the immediate challenge was restoring stability to a county government shaken by Coleman’s death and Davis’s criminal case.
Now both have been elected by voters, and the board is looking toward the next several years.
The challenge has shifted from filling empty seats to making difficult financial decisions.
The county needs to maintain its buildings, retain experienced employees and provide essential services while dealing with a budget that commissioners say needs serious attention.
For Smith, the priority couldn’t be clearer.
The budget comes first.
And second.
And third.
