Reading City Council appoints real estate agent to District 6 seat

Jul. 26—City Council has appointed O. Christopher Miller to fill the District 6 council seat.

The action came Monday at a council meeting with a vote of 5 to 1.

Councilwoman Melissa Ventura voted no.

Council had 30 days to fill the seat vacated when Councilwoman Johanny Cepeda-Freytiz was elected council president last month.

Kelli Roberts and Joseph Nunez were also interviewed for the position.

Miller, a real estate agent with RE/Max of Reading, was selected based on a scoring system adopted by council several years ago.

His term will run until the end of 2023.

Nate Rivera, formerly a city employee, criticized the appointment during the public comment period at the start of Monday's council meeting. Rivera suggested the decision to appoint Miller was predetermined.

"The reality is that there was people sitting in this body that already knew who they wanted to sit on that chair," he said. "And it's okay. But just know that there's an election coming up next year. And I commit to helping whoever runs in that district, so we can create the diversity that was intended to be there in the last election."

Cepeda-Freytiz said protocol was followed.

"We went through our process: we interviewed, we scored," the council president said. "We came up with the selected person in a very diplomatic manner, how we do all our interviews and we conduct all matters."

Councilwoman Donna Reed said the process to select Miller was consistent with that adopted by council in 2012 and was conducted appropriately.

"It's the fairest way," she said of the scoring system.

A 41-year resident of the city, Miller owns and restored his home and several rental properties in the northwest section of the city.

He is a member of the board of the Yocum Institute of the Arts, and previously served as the vice president of the Historical Society of Berks County, president of the Centre Park Historic District, president of the Rotary Club of Reading and chairman of the city's Historical Architectural Review Board.

"Right now, the city is in a pretty amazing place," he said, during his interview last week. "The fact that we were able to exit Act 47, the fact that we have the potential of getting the trains back (return of rail service); the fact that, for the first time in a long time, the population is growing rather than decreasing. it just seems like this is the time when the city is really going to move forward into the future."

Miller said he researched the outcomes of other cities that entered state oversight under Act 47.

"The fact that Reading can exit is a major accomplishment," he said, noting the next few years will be crucial in determining the city's future, particularly as the population continues to grow and infrastructure ages. Decisions being made now and over the next few years, he said, will determine the city's direction.

In other business, council appointed retired engineer Fred Thompson to one of two remaining vacancies on the redevelopment authority board.

Earlier this month, council appointed former Mayor Thomas M. McMahon and masonry contractor John Miller Jr. to additional vacancies.

The authority board had been unable to meet and function as a governmental body since May when council removed board Chairman Ernest H. Schlegel, prompting the resignations of two other board members, Wellington Santana, vice chairman, and Thomas Caltagirone, secretary-treasurer.

Caltagirone is a former state representative.

Schlegel's removal and the subsequent resignations left only Goslyn Fleming on the five-member authority board, which was already short due to the earlier resignation of board member Nate Rivera.