President's Page: Ringing In The New Councilmember

Happy New Year Neighbors!

As we ring in the New Year, one of Lakewood City Council’s first responsibilities will be to fulfill our Charter-bound duty to appoint a resident to the one year remaining on the Council Member at Large term vacated by our former colleague and now State Representative Tristan Rader.

In November, twelve candidates responded to Council’s open call for applicants, and in December, six were selected for interviews to take place at the 6pm Committee of the Whole meetings on January 6th and 13th. Council is likely to make a decision the night of the 13th, with the successful candidate being sworn-in at the January 21st meeting. The six interviewees are: Alexandra Bonacuse, Becky Machovec, Nicole Greenfield, Allison Urbanek, Angela Clunk, and Angelina Steiner. Interviews are open to the public and will be both live-streamed and recorded. Want to advocate for your preferred candidate? Send a letter of support on her behalf to council@lakewoodoh.gov prior to Jan 13th.

If you’ve never attended a Council meeting, let this be the year that you come visit us! I recommend starting with a committee meeting. Committee meetings tend to focus on one or two agenda items in more detail and are often a little less formal and a little easier to follow. Most committees are made up of three Council members, one of whom chairs the committee. Committee of the Whole is the exception, as it is made up of all Councilmembers and is chaired by the Council President. Legislation is referred by full Council to an appropriate committee for deeper exploration and discussion after which the committee may vote to refer the legislation back to full Council with a recommendation regarding adoption. While regular Council meetings are where a bill becomes a law, committee meetings are where Council, the Administration, and our community can really dig in to understand whether or not it should.

Upcoming Council Meetings:

Monday,  Jan 13th 6:00pm Committee of the Whole

Monday,  Jan 20 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr Day Holiday 

Tuesday, Jan 21st 6:00pm Housing, Planning & Development Committee

Tuesday, Jan 21st 7:30pm Regular Meeting of Council

Sign up for our email list to receive agendas for upcoming meetings, livestream meetings or watch past meetings, submit an eComment on any agenda item, and learn more about Council on our webpage: https://www.lakewoodoh.gov/lakewood-city-council/