Hoffee keen to see bevy of improvement projects in HDM in 2026

For Millersburg Mayor Kelly Hoffee, 2025 was a demanding, hectic and busy year.

She wouldn’t have it any other way.

Hoffee looked back to the past year and said since taking office in 2024, the role as mayor has been a demanding and at times exhausting one, but she admits she is fine with that because she invited it into her life.

“This (mayoral) role has been a lot more than I thought it would be when I took office, but I’ve made it that way on my own accord,” Hoffee said. “I’ve always thought things could be done better and could be more transparent, and we can do more together, and I’m not one to sit back and wait, so I kind of brought it all on myself.”

What she helped bring in 2025 will definitely pay dividends for Millersburg and Holmes County in 2026.

For Hoffee and the Village of Millersburg Council, 2025 was a year of preparation for growth and direction.

Included in the list of anticipated growth for the village is preparation for new traffic signals — Smart Lights — that will read the traffic situation in Historic Downtown Millersburg’s seemingly always busy thoroughfares. The goal for council was to create something that will help alleviate the major traffic clogs in town.

Another positive sign of growth will be the rebuilding of the downtown sidewalks, along with the implementation of conduits that will allow for street lighting west of town.

“I felt like we made some really good decisions this past year that will lead to some great things in 2026,” Hoffee said. “It’s going to be nice seeing the entirety of Millersburg lit up rather than having these dark spots, and it should make Millersburg that much more inviting.”

Another huge step for village council was exploring housing possibilities by investing in a housing study for not only Millersburg, but also for all of Holmes County.

“It’s going to supply us with a lot of great data that will help us make some important decisions moving forward when it comes to zoning and the shortage of housing in our village and in the county,” Hoffee said.

Hoffee said the important thing for a village and county that continues to grow and bring more people to the area is being proactive rather than reactive.

She said in the past things have leaned toward reacting on a year-by-year basis to challenges that surface, and rather than wait until the housing issue becomes overwhelming, the goal is to explore options now.

“Housing is an issue around the county, and we need to plan for the future,” she said. “Many people here have children who are growing up and wanting to come back to Holmes County and there’s not a lot of options here. I think this will give government officials and some of our towns and villages some direction for where we need to go in terms of what our communities need in terms of housing.”

One of the things Hoffee said she enjoyed in 2025 was the way different entities partnered together. She said experiencing those partnerships was encouraging, whether as council, the commissioners, the businesses in HDM or the community at-large.

“The collaboration and cooperation between partners went very well,” Hoffee said. “In order to achieve some of the goals we had in mind this past year, it took a lot of that type of teaming up and working together.”

She said the commissioners showed tremendous support to everything the village was striving to achieve and said knowing everyone was on the same page and working toward a better future was nice to experience.

“I think seeing everyone on the same page is going to move us forward in a direction that is going to be beneficial to everyone,” Hoffee said.

While bettering Millersburg and Holmes County was first and foremost on her mind, there was one moment when she ceded the spotlight to an individual with a much bigger picture in mind.

She was thrilled to be part of the moment when Gubernatorial hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy stopped in Holmes County for a visit in a packed house at Jitter’s Coffee House in Millersburg.

“I did not expect to be speaking and standing there beside him the whole time,” Hoffee said. “That was so much fun. That event was filled with so much excitement.”

Excitement is exactly what Hoffee hopes will spread throughout HDM in 2026 as it moves forward on several highly anticipated projects that should enhance the village greatly.