Mayor Nathan Simons: Leading through Community First Leadership in the Village of Glouster
September 29, 2026
By Alyssa Zuesi
Mayor Nathan Simons is a Southeast Ohio native with public service in his blood, having grown up with his maternal grandfather Richard Keith as mayor.
Simons’s Why
Simons’s heart goes out to the people, and they are the reason he chooses to live a life of service. His familial ties are what got him into this work, in reference to his grandfather, he said, “He kind of instilled the values of serving your community and things of that nature. So, I kind of give him a lot of credit for just my interest in pursuing this role.” He also mentioned his son and daughter as his reason to continue this work, citing that “They’re always the motivation for most things I do.”
In addition to serving as mayor, he also works full-time for the Hocking-Athens Perry Community Action as a Community Development Coordinator. He credits a lot of his work as mayor to the skills he’s learned through his HAPCAP career. Previous administrations often lacked grant funding expertise, so Simons feels this is something valuable he can contribute.
Upcoming Projects for Glouster
Simons’s “pie in the sky,” long-term dream project is to establish a solar array on the former Buckingham Coal Mine Site. This would require significant grant funding, which has been the primary obstacle, but should funding come through, he would acquire the land and create roughly 30 acres of solar array. With that acreage, the village could generate five megawatts of electricity. This would allow the village to generate its own power and reduce dependency on outside sources. “Then we could take the money that we currently spend purchasing power, and put that into village infrastructure, village systems, water system, electrical system, of course, streets, parking, you know things like that.” It would also give the village greater control over pricing. “It would be nice to be able to set our own rates and provide a better product, better service, and keep the rates, you know, down for longer periods of time.”
A more attainable near-term goal for Simons is improving the police department’s operations. He’s had trouble with employee engagement and productivity. He wants to strengthen the department so it can better serve the community. He would like to bring in some new people to create a new culture and wants officers to go out and engage with the community, rather than just monitoring from the background.
Another ongoing goal is downtown revitalization. Within the next ten years, Mayor Simons hopes for a vibrant downtown with all buildings occupied and contributing to the community.
Accomplishments
Anything benefiting to the community, is something that Simons takes pride in, stating “I’m happy and proud of everything that I can do for the community and every difference that I can make.” Prior to his term as mayor, Simons served on village council and had a very impactful experience with a neighborhood revitalization grant. He wrote the application for this $750,000 grant and was awarded it. Once awarded, the village administered and managed the grant, completing significant sidewalk improvements, adding a walking trail to the park, constructing a permanent restroom in the park in partnership with the school, and completing some street paving. The work done through this grant with the park also set the foundation for further improvements completed by an Amler grant, including finishing the walking trail and adding new playground equipment.
Leading through Collaboration
Going forward, Simons is making a priority to work more with collaboration in mind. He has recently realized he’s only one person, stating “What the village needs is larger than what I can give it or do on my own. So, I’ve begun kind of bringing in and using these resources that are available to me to help the village and the Mayors’ Partnership for Progress is one of those. They’ve been great. It’s nice to have someone or a group of someones that you can reach out to for help and tag them in on things.” And, later said, “As they say, many hands make light work and I’m finally embracing that and reaching out for help.”
In closing, Simons wanted to thank everyone he works with, from the community members themselves to the village council and village staff, to his employers who allow him the flexibility to do it all. He is very grateful, stating “I’m the head of the community, but really, I’m only as good as my people.”
