OCALA, Fl (352today.com) – City of Ocala Mayor Ben Marciano is seeking a second term, the 46-year-old, is married and the father of three children, and he and his wife Danielle are the owners of Zone Health and Fitness. The mayoral race will be decided on Sept. 16, 2025.
“It’s been a lot of work,” said Marciano. “The mayor’s job is a full-time job. We’re considered to be the fastest growing city in the country. It’s been a busy two years.”
Being a new mayor, Marciano really wanted to make an impact. The number one responsibility of the mayoral position is to oversee the Ocala Police Department. The department’s professionalism, empathy and community engagement has made a significant difference, during his two years in office.
“We have a great police chief, great officers, great captains but we’ve done some really good things there,” said Marciano. “Some of the things I’m really proud of is that we’ve put a community policing program in place that’s done a really good job of addressing some hard-hit areas of our community and reduced crime. That was a big initiative of mine.”
But the mayor’s influence has extended far beyond that initiative, and along with the Ocala Police Department, has strived to create a positive culture and working environment.
“We had a about a 10% vacancy rate when I first took office,” said Marciano. “Just a shortage of staff of officers. We reduced that to 1%. Chief (Balken) does a great job of building culture. But we’ve also done some neat things, we did our first ever police ball this year for our officers over two days at the World Equestrian Center. We raised the money for that, so there was no money from the taxpayers, it was all fundraised. I was really excited about that. Our guys felt really appreciated.”
The city also recently received funding for the Ocala Police Department to have a full-time chaplain, with Marciano working to open the doors to help that become a reality.
‘That’s something for the mental health of our guys to really take care of them.” said Marciano.
The Ocala Police Department did a sting recently and caught 20 child predators, it was the first time that the department has ever done a sting through the OPD, it’s usually done the Marion County Sheriff’s Department.
“I’m really proud of the work that we’re doing, that’s a big focus of mine is to get child predators off the street,” said Marciano. “I’m really happy with the work that we’ve done with the police department.”
Marciano’s initiatives also include to improve the mental and physical health of the community. There have been workouts with the mayor, he started a kids fitness program in the public school system, instead of the Presidential Fitness Challenge, there’s the Mayor’s Fitness Challenge. Every Friday more than 25,000 kids in the community participated in the program. Marciano also started workouts at the Mary Sue Rich Community Center at Reed Place and the different parks.
As far as the mental health initiatives, the city has partnered with the Marion County Hospital District to build a platform called Healthy Ocala. The digital platform serves as a resource that includes every mental health resource within the community, said Marciano.
“When I first took office, people were calling me every day, mayor, how do I get help? How do I find resources? No one knew, so this platform is at the touch of your fingertips,” said Marciano. “Right now, we’re seeing thousands of people a month using that platform. I use the platform to inspire people and give hope, but I’ve been a mayor that’s really tried to communicate to the community our issues and how we’re resolving them.”
The mayor’s innovative thinking has also seen him take to social media to answer questions people have within the community. Marciano has also done a Mayor’s Message, on social media, which has seen an audience of more than 20,000 on several occasions, as citizens are provided with weekly updates on what’s happening in the city.
Marciano has helped hundreds of people during the past two years as mayor, being in a position of influence and having access to a lot of available resources, where he’s able to connect, identifying issues and creating solutions.
“I’ve tried to be a mayor who brings people together, I think we have enough division in our world,” said Marciano. “My focus has always been, let’s focus on people doing good, and how can we come together regardless of backgrounds, political beliefs and whatever it is to make our community better and that’s what I tried to do.”