Office of the Mayor

Ben Kessler was re-elected to the office of Mayor in November of 2019, and has served as Mayor since 2012. With a prior professional background in commercial real estate and finance, Mayor Kessler has emphasized sound planning and holistic redevelopment with a focus on neighborhood-scale planning and environmental sustainability.

In addition to his role as Mayor and chief executive of the City of Bexley, Mayor Ben is a past chair of and serves on the executive board of the Central Ohio Mayor's and City Managers Association; is a board member with the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission, where he chairs the Sustainability Advisory Committee; is the Vice Chair of the Central Ohio Energy Efficient Special Improvement District; and serves on the board of the Ohio Environmental Council.

Mayor Kessler's community initiatives have included creating and chairing the Bexley Land Use Strategy Commission; forming the Bexley Community Improvement Corporation; redeveloping the former City Hall and Service Garage site on Main Street; installing traffic-calming medians and enhanced streetscape on Main Street and Broad Street; crafting comprehensive distracted driving and pedestrian crosswalk law for Bexley; launching Ohio's first comprehensive curbside food waste recycling service; authoring Ohio's first comprehensive single-use plastics ordinance; spurring the creation of the Bexley Main Event and Jazz in the Park series and the Jeffrey Woods Festival; and overseeing Bexley's first park and greenspace expansion effort in decades with the expansion of Schneider Park and the creation of the Schneider Park athletic fields, playground, community gardens, and creekside trail.

Inbetween his full time job of organizing litter pickup events and helping plan future infrastructure projects, Mayor Ben loves to tackle overly ambitious home improvement projects; go hiking with his family; cook anything and everything, and rock out on the keys with the Bexley-based Big Rockin' Blues Band.

If you have a question or concern and you'd like to discuss it with the Mayor, give him a call at (614) 559-4210! He'd be glad to chat in at City Hall or onsite with any issues or ideas you might have.