The sitting members of Columbus City Council announced tonight that they have hand selected Shannon Hardin to join their ranks in a replacement seat recently vacated by the resignation of A. Troy Miller. The announcement came following a two-round process where 27 applicants were whittled down to 12 finalists who were interviewed last week in advance of tonight’s decision.
“We are grateful to the many talented applicants who sought a seat on Council because they care deeply about their community and the people who live in it,” said City Council President Andrew Ginther. “We are very excited to welcome our newest member and we have every confidence that council member Hardin’s service will help further Council’s commitment to safe neighborhoods, good jobs, and a high quality of life for our residents.”
Hardin’s selection should come as little surprise to those who have been following the process closely. Hardin was mentioned by Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman as a favorite candidate months ago, and the City Council vacancy selection process has followed a trend in recent years that has seen the replacement of former members with new members of a matching race and gender.
Hardin is a Columbus native who grew up on the South Side, studied abroad in Kenya, and obtained a Political Science degree from Morehouse College in Atlanta. He has spent the better part of the past four years working in the offices of Mayor Michael B. Coleman in community affairs and external affairs and most recently took a position as the Associate Vice Presidents of Planning and Development at CMHA.
In his application for the position, Hardin expressed the following about his relationship with the City of Columbus:
“I deeply love Columbus. The open and smart spirit shaped my life and gives me the confidence to be who I am, a young, gay, African-American man who chooses to work in service of the community. My perspective makes me keenly aware that there’s more to be done to realize the American dream of equality and opportunity for all our diverse brothers and sisters in faiths, ethnicity, race and sexuality and to make Columbus one of America’s shining lights of fairness and justice.”
“Columbus is a well-managed city and a great place to live. Its strengths lie in its people. But, the world never stops changing and I will strive to keep Columbus’ momentum growing. We must become a model for effective, collaborative, local leadership and national best practices in how we care for our most vulnerable. A great city must invest in its citizens, it must balance the service needs of today with the capital needs of the future, and it must tell its story to compete with cities across America to attract the best talent and jobs.”
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