Representing Ward 8 on Akron City Council appears to be a popular job. More than 20 people applied for the open seat vacated by James Hardy earlier this month.
The applicants come from a variety of backgrounds, including former school board members, small business owners and account managers.
Ideastream Public Media obtained the applicants' resumes and letters of interest through a public records request.
Some have run for or held public office before: N.J. Akbar, who recently served as president of the Akron Board of Education; Patrick Bravo, who served on the Board of Education for 10 years, including as president in 2020; Bruce Bolden, who served as a Ward 1 Akron City Council member in the 1990s, and Sage Lewis, an advocate for the unhoused who ran unsuccessfully in the primary against Hardy last year.
Other applicants include Dominique Waters, who briefly ran in the primary for mayor in 2023, and Paula Sauter, a former deputy director of the Summit County Board of Elections.
Ward 8, which covers the city’s more affluent Northwest side, has had an open council seat since Hardy resigned unexpectedly earlier this month. In his resignation letter, Hardy wrote that “recent developments in [my] professional life have made it impossible for me to provide the time and responsiveness I planned to bring to Ward 8 as its council representative.”
Hardy is the second council member to resign this year, after Nancy Holland resigned from her Ward 1 seat in January. Samuel DeShazior replaced her.
A committee of City Council members is scheduled to interview the applicants in a special meeting on Thursday, according to the clerk’s office. They plan to elect a chosen applicant next Monday, July 29 — council’s last meeting day before its August recess.
Here is the full list of applicants and their backgrounds, according to their resumes:
- N.J. Akbar, consultant and former Akron Board of Education member
- Bruce Bolden, account executive and former Ward 1 Akron City Council member
- Patrick Bravo, Executive Director of the Summit County Land Bank and former school board member
- Joann Collins, referral and support generalist for Summit County DD Board
- David Guran, water plant operator and community activist
- William Hall, holistic counselor
- Matthew Hurm, attorney
- Sage Lewis, digital content creator and advocate for unhoused populations
- Ed Matzules, licensed real estate salesperson and senior vice president of Colliers
- Meghan Meeker, director of social media at Cision
- Joseph Micale, founder of local startup Narrative Digital Media
- Sean Plank, senior pastor at Summit Christian Church
- James Rizopulos, senior account manager
- Paula Sauter, office manager and former deputy director of the Summit County Board of Elections
- Albert Smith, owner of Lianna Development Corporation and former captain in the Akron Fire Department
- Paul Stallings, accounting manager
- Timothy Stewart, coordinator and volunteer for political campaigns
- Shawn Strode, assistant building service worker
- Darlene VerSluys, business owner
- Dominique Waters, store branch director
- LaMont Wilson, substitute teacher
