After election loss, Neal seeks city council post
Democrat Rick Neal, who unsuccessfully sought to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Steve Stivers in the Nov. 6 midterm election, is now seeking a seat on the Columbus City Council, along with 53 others.
The 54 people — including two assistant city attorneys, former City Council candidates, area commissioners, and other community leaders — submitted applications by Monday’s deadline for two slots on the council left vacant after two current members were elected to new offices. (Names of the 54 applicants can be found on Dispatch.com.)
Democratic council member Jaiza Page won a seat on the Franklin County Common Pleas Court in the election. Democratic Councilman Michael Stinziano was elected Franklin County auditor.
Page will assume office in January, but Stinziano will not be sworn in as auditor until March.
Neal announced that he’d applied on his Facebook page, saying “this seems like a great opportunity to work with a terrific group of people.”
“I’ve been proud to call Columbus home since 2007, and am lucky to be part of a family with such a strong connection to the city,” Neal wrote. “One of the best parts of running for Congress was being a strong advocate for communities that needed someone to stand up for them — and I look forward to getting to know better our neighborhoods here in the city, and how I might be able to help, as I go through this process.”
Neal, a resident of German Village who is a former international aid worker, received only 40 percent of the vote to Stivers’ 59 percent.
Some of the other applicants are assistant city attorneys Shayla Favor and Katarina Karac; John Lathram of the North Linden Area Commission; Nick Bankston of the city’s Department of Neighborhoods; Columbus school board member Ramona Reyes; Michelle Moskowitz Brown, executive director of Local Matters; and Catherine Girves, a local bicycling advocate.
Some of the applicants were finalists to replace Zach Klein earlier this year: activist Jasmine Ayres, who finished fourth in a race for three council seats in 2017; Stefanie Coe, of the Southwest Area Commission; Gregory Lee, an Accenture consultant; Nancy Day-Achauer, a United Methodist Church minister; and Tiffany White, a Progressive Insurance litigation reviewer. Klein was elected city attorney in November 2017 and replaced on the council by Emmanuel Remy.
Coe, who has now applied five times for a council position, said her work in the neighborhoods brings another perspective to the council.
Another applicant, Al Edmondson, a Near East Side barber and Mount Vernon community leader, said he recently moved back into Columbus from Reynoldsburg and believes working on the city council would help to promote neighborhood initiatives.
The applicants were asked to provide resumes and essays to the city clerk by noon Monday. The five remaining council members who will vote on the replacements can schedule individual interviews with applicants between Tuesday and Dec. 6, with each of the five council members submitting the names of three nominees to the city clerk by Dec. 7.
On Dec. 11, the council will convene a public meeting at city hall but adjourn to executive session to conduct interviews with the finalists, a pool that could include as many as 15 people.
A public hearing on the finalists for Page’s seat will be at 5 p.m. Jan. 10. The council will vote on Page’s replacement Jan. 14.
The public hearing for finalists for Stinziano’s seat will be at 5 p.m. March 7. The council will choose Stinziano’s successor on March 11.