Evan Nolan is the next City Council member for the city of Cincinnati. Nolan will complete the term of Reggie Harris, who resigned to take a housing job in the Biden administration. Council member Meeka Owens was tasked with naming his replacement, and she announced her choice Friday morning.
Nolan is an attorney who worked in the city law department until about two years ago, when he resigned to put his name forward to replace now-Congressman Greg Landsman on Council.
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"I've had the privilege of working with these Council members inside City Hall during my time with the law department and outside City Hall, engaging with the community," Nolan said. "This Council gets it — they have accomplished so much in their short time together. Yet there's still much to be done, and I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to be a part of it."
Nolan says he shares Council's policy priorities, including public safety, a balanced budget, economic development, affordable housing, reducing gun violence, pedestrian safety, and climate change.
"These are the issues that matter most to me, and I am ready to help put policies in place that move us forward," Nolan said. "At the backbone of all of these priorities is, and should always be, a requirement to approach every issue with ethics and good governance and a focus on equity, especially racial equity, and an understanding for how the actions here at City Hall can have a positive or disparate impact on any members in our community."
Owens says Nolan is an empathetic, intelligent leader.
"I wanted to appoint someone who I knew was ready on Day One, who could align with this Council to continue to craft legislation that will push our priorities forward and grow this city," Owens said.
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The job of selecting Harris' replacement fell to Owens as his "successor designee," meaning the Council member Harris had chosen to pick a replacement if he ever stepped down. There is no set procedure for choosing a replacement council member.
"I had a short amount of time to create a process that I thought was effective and efficient and that would lead me to the best person that would help me and my colleagues co-govern," Owens said.
Owens says she took 11 coffee meetings and interviewed six finalists, alongside an "advisory committee" of 11 community leaders to help her make the decision. The six finalists were:
- Darrick Dansby
- Storm Boyd
- Ozie Davis
- Evan Nolan
- Gabe Davis
- Colleen Reynolds
None of the finalists are on the list of candidates Owens released to WVXU earlier this week, of people who reached out to her office to express interest in the job. Reporters were not permitted to ask questions at Friday morning's press conference. An interview with Owens and Nolan is scheduled for Friday afternoon.
Nolan will serve out the rest of Harris' term through the end of 2025; all nine Council seats are on the ballot next year.
