Mike Canterbury was appointed to city council Wednesday night.
When Chris Knisely was elected Athens City Council president, her at-large seat was left unfilled.
Wednesday afternoon, Athens residents on the Democratic Central Committee appointed Mike Canterbury to fill Knisely’s vacant seat, clerk of Council Debbie Walker said.
Joan Kraynanski and Alan Swank were also candidates for the position, and have said they will be running for at large seats in the November election.
Walker explained that, to be appointed, Canterbury had to secure the majority vote of committee members.
Nine of the 11 committee members eligible to vote did so. One member was not present and the other, Councilwoman Michele Papai, D-3rd Ward, abstained from voting.
“Being on council, I didn’t feel like I should be voting on the people who were going to be on council,” Papai said.
Two rounds of voting were conducted after the first ended with a vote of five to four. He secured the majority in the second round of voting.
“He was very excited about the opportunity to serve on council,” Knisely said, adding that shortly after securing the position, Canterbury was asking her questions about council.
Walker said that Canterbury will take an oath of office before the next council meeting on Tuesday.
“I think he’ll be very diligent about filling the position,” Knisely said.
@emilybohatch
eb346012@ohio.edu
