Toledo Councilman Sandy Spang said today that budget reform, small business development, and neighborhood revitalization will be her priorities in her run for mayor.

If she raises the necessary 750 signatures by Sept. 4, Ms. Spang would run in the special election set for Nov. 3 to fill the two years remaining in the term of the late Mayor D. Michael Collins.

Ms. Spang, 55, of South Toledo, launched her surprise candidacy on the steps of Government Center with some of her volunteer supporters behind her. Among them was Councilman Rob Ludeman who had considered but decided against running. He called her “the next mayor of the city of Toledo.”

“We have to do the work that will ensure the fiscal health of the city of Toledo. I bring vision, passion, and a commitment to do the work to move Toledo forward,” Ms. Spang said.

The owner of a South Toledo coffee shop and several commercial and residential properties, a graduate of Bowling Green State University, and wife and mother, Ms. Spang was elected for the first time in 2013 as an at-large candidate.

She has a Republican voting record but has dropped her party affiliation in recent years and said she will run for mayor the same way she ran for council in 2013, as an independent.

Ms. Spang is expected to add another political dynamic to an already five-way race, creating new competition for independent and Republican-leaning voters, women voters, and voters in South Toledo which boasts some of the heaviest turnout in municipal elections.

Other declared or likely candidates are Democrat incumbent appointed Mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson, Democrat former mayor Carty Finkbeiner, Mayor Collins’ widow independent Sandy Drabik Collins, independent former Mayor Mike Bell, and Republican evangelist Opal Covey.

Contact Tom Troy: tomtroy@theblade.com or 419-724-6058 or on Twitter @TomFTroy.

First Published August 14, 2015, 7:43 p.m.