Akron City Council appoints Samuel DeShazior to temporarily fill Ward 1 vacancy
Akron's new Ward 1 councilman is a familiar face in city government.
City Council voted unanimously Monday to appoint Samuel DeShazior to temporarily fill the vacancy created when Nancy Holland resigned Jan. 5.
According to his résumé, DeShazior worked from 2014 to 2019 as former Mayor Dan Horrigan's deputy mayor for economic development. In 2019, he was appointed as the director of business retention and expansion in the city's Office of Integrated Development — where he served through completion of Horrigan's final term.
Previously, DeShazior managed the Akron Global Business Accelerator, now known as the Bounce Innovation Hub.
"As I take this journey," DeShazior wrote in the cover letter for his application, "it is my intent to learn from our citizens and share the best of my time and talents with the community."
DeShazior thanked City Council and Akron's citizens for the opportunity to serve as a councilman.
He also extended thanks to his family for coming to the meeting to show him support.
The selection committee — City Council members Jeff Fusco (at-large), Phil Lombardo (Ward 2), James Hardy (Ward 8), Margo Sommerville (Ward 3) and Jan Davis (Ward 4) — interviewed 15 candidates last week during a closed-door session at City Hall.
Sommerville, the council president, said the committee struggled to settle on just one candidate from the pool of qualified applicants.
DeShazior will hold the seat until the 2025 general election, when Ward 1 residents will choose a candidate to fill out the remainder of Holland's unexpired term.
Ward 1 spans from central to Northwest Akron and includes downtown, the University of Akron campus and the Highland Square neighborhood.
When Holland resigned, she said via email, "The past few years have been deeply fulfilling in many ways, and while I have given this job my all, it is no longer possible to do so.”
She was appointed to the job in 2021 following previous Ward 1 Councilman Rich Swirsky's death. In 2022, she defeated a Republican challenger and a write-in candidate in her bid to hold on to the seat. She was unopposed in her re-election bid last November.
Contact reporter Derek Kreider at DKreider@Gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Samuel DeShazior becomes Akron's newest City Council member
