City Council Begins Year With New Members - Highlands Gets Upgrade - North West Street New Homes - East of Africa Update
City Council Resets Leadership Ahead Of First Regular Meeting Of The Year
The Westerville City Council will start the new year with a work session focused on establishing leadership roles and board assignments.
This session, which takes place before the council’s first regular meeting, will include the election of a new council chair, vice chair, mayor, and vice mayor.
Council members will also appoint people to more than a dozen boards and commissions. These include the Planning Commission, the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, the Finance Audit Review Committee, the Uptown Westerville Inc. board, and several regional and economic development groups.
There will be no policy discussions or legislative items on the agenda. The work session is meant to organize the council and assign members to roles that guide city oversight, long-term planning, and representation in outside groups.
Daniela Beckett and Kelly Stocker will be sworn in during the regular session on Tuesday as the newest members of the Westerville City Council. These changes come after longtime council chair Mike Heyeck retired after 40 years of service, and another council member lost their seat in the election.
By the end of the session, the new council’s leadership structure will be set, and members will move straight into the first regular meeting of the year.
Highlands’ New Pavilion Roof
A construction crew used a skid steer Monday to move plastic-wrapped, preformed roof support beams into position ahead of installation Tuesday at a new shelter being built beside the tennis courts at Highlands Park.
Upgrades at Highlands Park is one of a series of park work underway before spring returns.
North West Street’s New Homes
Carpenters install joists for the first floor of one of two single-family homes facing North West Street at the front entrance to Towns on the Greenway, a neighborhood of townhomes being built near the community center.
The two houses are the only structures on the property that are standalone, not connected to other homes.
East of Africa Update
The weather in December and the holiday break stopped work at the city’s East of Africa business development project leaving the unfinished culvert and bridge at the extension of Westar Boulevard delayed.
A small crew will return Tuesday for underground communications and electric installations.
The Westerville News is a reader-supported publication by Gary Gardiner, a lifelong journalist who believes hyper-local reporting is the future of news. This publication focuses exclusively on Westerville—its local news, influence on Central Ohio, and how surrounding areas shape the community.
Explore more hyper-local reporting by subscribing to The Hilliard Beacon, Civic Capacity, Marysville Matters, The Ohio Roundtable, Shelby News Reporter, This Week in Toledo, and Into the Morning by Krista Steele.
