Huebner ‘enjoyed’ his time as Millersburg mayor

Jeff Huebner’s lengthy run as Millersburg mayor will officially come to an end at the start of 2024.

Huebner lost his latest reelection bid to councilwoman Kelly Hoffee during this past November’s election.

Huebner first became mayor on an interim basis starting in October 2006, taking over for Dave Schrock, who stepped down from the position in September of that year. Huebner, who was Millersburg Village Council president at the time, was appointed to the position.

Huebner served as mayor for the next 15 months and was elected to the position by village residents during the November 2007 election. He took over full-time beginning in 2008.

“To be totally honest, I didn’t know what to expect (when I took over as mayor on an interim basis),” Huebner said. “I didn’t run for the position originally. I fell into it because our previous mayor resigned midterm. As council president, I had to finish out 15 months of his term. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed giving back to the community, so I just continued to run.

“I just enjoyed the job. You don’t go in there and do this as a job. You do it as a passion. If you enjoy it, it doesn’t become a job.”

Millersburg has changed in many ways during Huebner’s time as mayor. Several of those changes stand out to him.

“The village has grown considerably in size since I’ve been in office,” he said. “We’ve had several park improvements made over the course of my tenure. The biggest change was we acquired new fairgrounds, the fairgrounds relocation, which has become part of our village, so our corporation limit goes clear out there now.”

Huebner said Millersburg is in a better place now than it was when he took over as mayor.

“We are much stronger as a village,” he said. “The other thing that came about (during my tenure) was we became a Main Street community while I was in there, and that has really filled up our downtown storefronts. We have a couple empty right now, but those will fill back up.

“Our downtown has really grown over the past 10-15 years, and our Main Street program has a lot to contribute to that.”

Huebner is thankful to have served as mayor.

“I just enjoyed what I did,” he said. “It was a privilege to serve the residents for the time that I did, and I wish the new administration the best of luck.”