Susan Brown-Wilson, foreground, and other members of City Council at a legislative session in February.
The city has released the names and resumes of applicants to an open seat on City Council, left vacant by the death of Councilwoman Eugenia Smith in April.
The list of 12 city residents includes current and former state workers, former city employees and two former members of council. Also represented are a local landlord, several consultants, an attorney, an accountant and one self-identified former “free lance political operative.”
The candidate who is chosen will serve until the next municipal election, in the fall of 2015. Members of council are paid $20,000 per year.
Council will conduct two-minute interviews with each candidate tomorrow, Thursday, May 8, at 5:30 p.m., during a public meeting in city hall. Following the interviews, council members will anonymously cast paper ballots to winnow the list of applicants and then perform a second round of interviews with the remaining candidates. Next Monday, May 12, council will vote to appoint their newest member.
Council most recently completed this process in December 2012, after then-Councilwoman Patty Kim was elected to the state House of Representatives. During that process, Bruce Weber was selected out of a field of more than 30 candidates. Weber now works as the city’s budget and finance director.
TheBurg has compiled this list of candidates, along with brief biographies, based on information the candidates reported in their applications.
The 12 council hopefuls are:
Jeffrey A. Baltimore, a postal worker and former deputy director in the office of economic development under Mayor Stephen Reed.
Michelle Blade, a retired conference facilitator for the Metanexus Foundation, a Philadelphia non-profit studying science and religion.
Ron Burkholder, a landlord and self-identified “solar energy pioneer,” and a former employee of the Department of Labor and Industry, where he reviewed unemployment compensation claims.
John Downs, a security officer and driver at Harrisburg Auto Auction in Mechanicsburg and a former city employee in the office of insurance and risk management.
Stanley Gruen, CEO of the Gruen Group, a local consulting firm, and a former “free lance political operative” consulting on the campaigns of Democratic candidates in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
Matthew Krupp, an attorney with the Department of Labor and Industry and a board member at Historic Harrisburg Association.
Rhonda Mays, a former budget analyst in the state Department of Public Welfare and the president of RE Mays Funding Solutions, which provides research and grant-management services to local non-profits.
Alex Reber, a senior accountant at Miller Dixon Drake and a member of Harrisburg Young Professionals.
Ellis R. Roy, Jr., a retired Harrisburg police lieutenant who currently serves on the Harrisburg Civil Service Commission.
Kathy Seidl, a research analyst with the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, Democratic caucus, and a member of the Governor’s Advisory Committee for People with Disabilities.
Patricia Stringer, a retired state employee, former Harrisburg City Council member and former human relations commissioner for the city.
Kelly Summerford, an arts management consultant with the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts who served on Harrisburg’s City Council from 2010 to 2014.
An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that council members would hold a “closed-door caucus” to narrow the original 12 applicants down to a smaller number of finalists. Council members selected finalists by using anonymous paper ballots.
