Tom Counts has served as a Powell City Council member since being elected in 2006. He held the position of Mayor from 2008 through 2009 and again from 2024 through 2025.
Currently, Tom serves as Vice Mayor and as a member of the Powell Development Corporation and Operations Committee. Previously, he has chaired the Finance Committee and the Operations Committee.
Before joining City Council, Tom served on the Board of Zoning Appeals for five years and then on the Planning and Zoning Commission for five years.
Tom’s goals on council include stewarding tax income from the 2021 restructure to meet residents’ needs and developing the Bennett Farm tract that Powell recently purchased into parkland for the community.
He earned a BA from Ohio Northern University and then his JD from The Ohio State University. Tom went on to build a career in real estate law, as an associate and partner for firm Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff from 1985 until 1999 where he landed in his current role.
He is employed as a real estate counsel for the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio and manages the legal work for their $8 billion portfolio.
Active in the All Saints Lutheran Church, Tom sings in the choir and has held leadership roles in his local congregation. He also has served the church regionally as a member of the Synod Council and nationally in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America as a voting member during two churchwide assemblies.
Tom moved to Powell in 1995 to raise his family; he, his wife Carolyn and two daughters Abby and Rachel have lived in the Olentangy Ridge neighborhood since.