Pastor to fill council seat through 2021
Will Urschelwill replace EdgarWallace who died Dec. 2.
A familiar face is returning XENIA— to Xenia City Council.
Will Urschel was appointed by council on Tuesday to fill the spot left vacant by the death of Edgar Wallace, the council’s vice president.
Wallace, 76, died Dec. 2. Wallace first took office in 2016 andhadrecently been reelected to a second term. Urschel will serve until Dec. 31, 2021. The remaining two years of Wallace’s term will be filled by someone elected by voters in Xenia.
Urschel, a pastor atEmmanuel BaptistChurchinXeniawhoworks forDaytonAerospace Inc., according to his resume, was among eight applicants for the vacancy. He and Melody Anderson, Mike
Engle, MaryHaller, Howard Horstman, DaleLouderback, JonMartin and Faith Sorice were interviewed onDec. 22.
Urschel was on city council in 2019 and is currently on the board of recreation and community activities.
Urschelwas awrite-in candidate for council after he was among two candidates disqualified fromtheNovember 2019 ballot because neither had 75 valid signatures on their petitions, the number required byXenia’s charter. Because of a staffing error those petitions were not red-flagged before the elections board voted to certify them. Residents Christian Steen and Benjamin Patterson filed protests against his petition. Engle, formerXenia city council president, also was disqualified at that time.
AtTuesday’s meeting, Louderback, Sorice andUrschel were nominated but council voted to appointUrschel.
The late councilman Wallace was pastor at First United ChristianChurch and was a socialwork professor at Wilberforce University.