8 apply to fill vacant Xenia council seat

Spot opened upwhen EdgarWallace died earlier thismonth.

Eightpeoplehaveapplied XENIA— to fill the Xenia City Council seat left vacant when councilman Edgar Wallace died.

Wallace, who died early this month, was first elected in 2016. He was re-elected to a second term in November. He was 76 at the time of his death.

William Urschel, Jon Martin, Mary Haller, Dale Louderback, Melody Anderson, Michael Engle, Faith Ann Sorice andHoward Horstman applied to fill the vacancy. Three of the applicants previously serviced on city council.

Urschel was on city council in 2019 and is currently on the board of recreation and community activities. He was a write-in candidate for council. Urschel is a pastor at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Xenia and works for Dayton Aerospace, Inc., his resume says.

Martin was on Bellbrook City Council before moving to Xenia in 2016. He works for the Reynolds and Reynolds company.

Haller is a part-time recording clerk with the city. She held a seat on the board of zoning and appeals before coming to work with the city, her resume says.

Louderback was oncity council from 2008 to 2019. He is a realtor in Xenia.

Louderback and another councilman were accused of violating the city’s charter when they invested in a potential development on the former Kmart property aswell as accept employment opportunitieswith the developer. The project never happened, and the Ohio Ethics Commission cleared them of any wrongdoing in August 2016.

Andersonworks for the Miami Valley JuvenileRehabilitationCenter as business manager and fiscal officer, her resumestates. She

plans to retire in the spring. Anderson is currently on the civil service commission and would have to resign if elected.

Engle served eight years as city council president. Engle is the acting technical director for the Geospacial and Signatures Intelligence Group NASIC, according to his resume.

Soriceworks at the Greene County Career Center. She has servedontheXenia Planning and Zoning Board and was previously on council in the Village of Harvesyburg inWarren County. She also took over as actingmayor for one year, her resume says.

Horstman is retired from the Air Force. He serves on the Xenia Charter Review Commission and completed the Xenia Citizen’s Academy

this year, he says in the resumesubmitted to the city.

Michael Engle and Will Urschel were disqualified from the November 2019 ballot because neither candidate had 75 valid signatures on their petitions, the number required by Xenia’s charter. Because of a staffing error those petitions were not red-flagged before the elections board voted to certify them. Residents Christian Steen andBenjamin Patterson filed protests against the candidates’ petitions.

City council held a Zoom meeting on Dec. 22 to discuss the appointment. The city has notmade a decision yet, acityspokeswomansaid. City council will have their next meeting on Dec. 29 at 5:30 p.m. via Zoom.