The Barberton mayor’s office wasn’t in Shorter Griffin’s plans, but he could not ignore the call to duty when the Army veteran found himself in line to step into that role for his hometown.
“It’s bittersweet,” Griffin said of the turn of events that led him there.
The 82-year-old Magic City native became mayor on June 16 following William Judge’s June 15 resignation. Judge quit the post after Barberton City Council began removal proceedings against him in April. Griffin, then City Council president, said the removal efforts stemmed from Judge’s alleged bad behavior as a supervisor.
“I liked William Judge,” Griffin said. “I thought I had a good rapport with him. I hate to see what happened; I wish it hadn’t have happened.”
Griffin said he didn’t think about the fact that, to the best of his knowledge, he’s Barberton’s first Black mayor – and possibly the first Black mayor in Summit County – until a friend at the Summit County Board of Elections brought it up.
“It doesn’t surprise me,” he said. Griffin was also the city’s first Black City Council president.
Griffin hasn’t been mayor long. He said he’s spent his first week on the job time getting acclimated to the position. Part of that has been the challenging task of transitioning from retirement back into a regular job. Even his City Council duties allowed him more free time, he said.
His favorite part of the job so far, he said, has been watching City Council work during its June 22 meeting.
“I could listen to them make mistakes instead of me,” he said.
Griffin doubts he’ll run for mayor when the term is up, and likely won’t attempt returning to City Council. If he were to stay, he said, it would be in the mayor’s seat.
“I love the job, I don’t mind the job, don’t get me wrong,” he said, “but there’s a point in time when you have to realize, ‘I’d like to walk out of here,’ that enough’s enough.”
What does Shorter Griffin have planned for Magic City?
For now, Griffin said, he’s prioritizing keeping the city on track, continuing projects that were already underway – road improvements, for instance, and trying to attract jobs to the area.
“This year’s programs continue on the commitment to improving the road quality, safety and long-term infrastructure,” Griffin said. The 2026 Walk of Fame and the monthly Change for Change fundraiser will continue as usual, he said.
“The money that’s raised, we give it to a worthy civic organization here in town,” Griffin said.
Larger projects like moving the city offices into the Summit County Developmental Disabilities building on West Hopocan Avenue will continue.
What Barberton needs now, Griffin said, is a steady hand guiding the city through the necessary healing process after several months of turmoil, which deepened June 22 with the resignation of Ward 6 City Councilman Monte Harris. Harris said council had devolved into a “complete circus” with competing interests making it “difficult” to accomplish anything.
“It shocked me, and I wish it would’ve never happened,” Griffin said. “Now we’re in the process of interviewing for two positions.” Rebecca Gearheart’s Ward 5 seat is also open following her elevation to City Council president.
Communication is the way forward, Griffin said, adding that he trusts department heads to know their jobs.
Shorter Griffin sees mayoral role as his civic duty to Barberton
For Griffin, the mayorship is a duty rather than an aspiration, a duty he said he wouldn’t shy away from.
“I’m a volunteer, I’m a soldier, a veteran, and I’ll do my duty,” Griffin said at his swearing in. “If the situation comes to me, I don’t shirk from my duty.”
Volunteerism has been a constant throughout his life, he said, whether it’s the Boy Scouts or the armed forces.
At 18, Griffin enlisted in the United States Army, requesting specifically to go to Vietnam. He was told he couldn’t pick his assignment, and was sent to Germany where he served for two years. Some of his friends went to Vietnam; some of them, he said, didn’t come back.
The army taught him dedication to American democracy, he said.
“I was always a lover of our flag, the Pledge of Allegiance, all that stuff,” Griffin said. But he said the big reason he enlisted was to get out from under his parents’ thumb – only to discover the Army’s restrictions were “tougher than mom’s,” he said, laughing.
Upon returning to Barberton, he nearly landed a job with the city but took a job with Goodyear instead.
Eventually, he found his way to working for Yellow Freight as a truck mechanic before retiring after 25 years.
He entered politics as a campaigner for former President Barack Obama following Obama’s 2008 victory in the Iowa caucuses.
In 2018, Griffin applied for and was chosen by City Council to fill a vacant at-large seat, replacing Mike Soyars following Soyars’ appointment to Summit County Council. Griffin said Soyars encouraged him to apply. At the time, Griffin was president of the Barberton Noon Kiwanis, treasurer of the Magic City Democratic Club and a member of the Board of Zoning Appeals.
Griffin said Soyars told him he had a good resume and he’d be chosen.
“I knew the other people that were being considered,” Griffin said “but I just thought by my background, a little bit, that I’d be pretty close to the top.”
After that, Griffin was elected as Ward 3 representative in 2019 and later won City Council president in 2025.
What’s in a name? How mayor came to be called Shorter Griffin
Griffin said his father was also named Shorter, who was named for his uncle. It’s a name that’s been passed down through his family for generations.
“It goes way back,” he said. At family reunions, he said, there was a captain named Shorter Griffin. “He enlisted in the Confederate Army in September of 1862, and he married a lady of mixed heritage, mixed race, and that’s where, I’m assuming, Shorter came down,” Griffin said.
It’s nice having a name dating back to the American Civil War, he said, and one that’s a conversation starter to boot.
He has four children he said, three sons and a daughter. Has he passed his name along to one of his sons?
“Of course not,” he said. When courting his future wife, he said he told her, “‘You know something, if we got married, I’m going to name none of my boys after me.’ And I never did.”
Contact reporter Derek Kreider at DKreider@Gannett.com or 330-541-9413.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: New Barberton mayor adjusts to pioneering role amid City Hall upheaval
Reporting by Derek Kreider, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
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By Derek Kreider, Akron Beacon Journal | USA TODAY Network
