Bryce Riggs withdraws from consideration to be Tiffin’s next mayor

Tiffin, Ohio — Bryce Riggs announced Thursday morning that he has withdrawn his name from consideration to fulfill the remainder of former Mayor Aaron Montz’s unexpired term.

“I have informed Tiffin City Council that I have withdrawn my name from consideration for the appointment of the unexpired term of former Mayor Aaron D. Montz. I look forward to continuing in my role as the Executive Director of the Seneca Regional Chamber of Commerce and Destination Seneca County,” Riggs wrote in a Facebook post. “I will continue to work tirelessly to ensure that the Tiffin and Seneca County community is the best place to live, work, play, and visit.

“The developments this week have led me to believe it’s in the best interest of our community to have a mayor that has intentions to only fulfill the unexpired term. This allows the voters the opportunity to choose their next mayor in November 2023 at the ballot box. The City of Tiffin is on the rise, and it will take all of us working together to keep the momentum moving forward.”

Riggs’ decision to withdraw comes amid controversy surrounding the selection process.

During a special meeting of Tiffin City Council on Monday, July 11, councilmembers eventually elected then-Councilmember Zack Perkins as the city’s next mayor following several rounds of voting.

Shortly after council’s meeting Monday, TiffinOhio.net was alerted to an email message outlining misconduct allegations against Perkins, which was sent to some councilmembers. In the email message, which can be viewed here, the writer mentioned they had witnessed two alleged incidents of misconduct involving Perkins. One of the alleged incidents was sexual in nature and resulted in a lawsuit against Perkins’ former employer, which ended up costing the business a “substantial sum,” according to the email.

Around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Perkins announced on social media that he would be resigning from his at-large council seat and declining the position of mayor.

“This should be a great day of celebration for my family and myself. Yet, it has been filled with enormous amounts of negativity and backlash,” Perkins wrote in a post to Facebook.

The process to select a new mayor will now return to Tiffin City Council, which is down two members following the resignations of Perkins and Ben Gillig, who previously announced that he would step down from his council seat effective July 12. Perkins’ seat will be filled by a nomination from the Seneca County Republican Party, and Gillig’s seat will be filled by the Seneca County Democratic Party.

Tiffin City Council has scheduled a special meeting for Thursday, July 14 at 6 p.m. in council chambers at city hall. During the meeting, council is expected to elect a new president pro tempore and discuss how they want to proceed with fulfilling the mayoral vacancy.

TiffinOhio.net reached out to Perkins and multiple councilmembers for comment. No response has been received as of the time this story was published.