Akron City Council finally selected a new leader Monday and it wasn’t the person anyone had expected.
With council divided in the waning hours before the reorganization meeting between council members Bob Hoch and Linda Omobien, a new candidate stepped forward: Marilyn Keith.
The soft-spoken Keith, who joined council at the same time as Hoch four years ago, gained Hoch’s support and edged Omobien 7-6 to become the new council president. A majority vote of the 13-member council was required.
Keith promised at the end of the meeting to be fair and honest and said her goal is to move the city forward in a positive manner.
“I hope pretty soon we can erase the division that’s there,” Keith said. “I will work very hard to do that.”
Keith’s election put her in the unusual position of literally sitting next to her husband, council clerk Bob Keith, which Councilman Russel Neal Jr. pointed to during the meeting as a potential conflict.
“I’m concerned about that relationship,” Neal said.
Law Director Eve Belfance said the conflict can be addressed by council members changing their rules to no longer have the president supervise the clerk and council staff, instead giving this task to someone else, such as the vice president.
The selection of four new council members in the Nov. 3 election shook up previous alliances and opened the door for new leadership.
The new council members are: Jeff Fusco, who served as Akron mayor for six months until Thursday but resumed his council seat Jan. 1; Bruce Kilby, who is returning to council; Zack Milkovich, a former state representative; and Veronica Sims, who resigned an Akron school board seat to join council. Fusco became mayor after a political reshuffling last year touched off by the surprise resignation of longtime Mayor Don Plusquellic.
Council members delayed their organizational meeting, normally held when council members are sworn in at the final meeting of the year in mid-December, to avoid any potential conflicts involving Fusco and Sims voting for council leadership when they were then holding another office.
After the November election, Fusco, Hoch, Omobien and Donnie Kammer expressed an interest in the presidency. Fusco, though, dropped out of the running in early December.
Kammer struggled to gain traction and council members were split between Hoch and Omobien. Marilyn Keith, who had previously said she wasn’t interested in the top spot but would step up if called upon, then emerged as an alternative.
“I didn’t want it,” Keith said. “Sometimes we do things we don’t want to do. I will work very hard at this job.”
Mike Freeman, who served as council president after Fusco became mayor, wasn’t interested in the presidency because of his full-time position with the Salvation Army.
Hoch thinks he likely would have done better in his bid for the presidency if the meeting had been held in mid-December. He said Keith asked for his support and he gave it.
“If I’m not going to get the votes, I’m going to go with who I believe will be a better leader,” Hoch said.
In other divided votes, council members chose to keep Margo Sommerville as vice president and Kammer as president pro tem. The other nominees were Omobien for vice president and Neal for president pro tem.
Keith caused a stir when she announced the members of the Committee on Committees, which has the important task of making committee assignments. The committee is made up of the most senior members of council, but Keith interpreted this to mean service at any time on council — not continuously — which granted Fusco and Kilby a spot on the committee, along with Keith, Freeman and Omobien. Neal objected, saying past precedent was for continuous service on council.
The newly appointed committees will meet for the first time next Monday when council gets back to business.
Neal expressed disappointment after the meeting with the outcome of the leadership votes and with Keith’s decision on the makeup of the Committee on Committees. He pointed to this as business as usual for the council.
“Plusquellic is gone,” he said. “Now who are we going to blame?”
Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at 330-996-3705, swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com and on Twitter: @swarsmithabj.