CINCINNATI — Cincinnati City Council has officially welcomed its newest member.
Evan Nolan was sworn into office Thursday.
Nolan, an attorney, was selected by council member Meeka Owens to replace former council member Reggie Harris, who accepted a position with the U.S. Department of Housing and Development.
Nolan said he recognizes that not everyone wanted him appointed to the council position, but he said he will rely on his life experiences and the support from others.
"All I can do is show up every day, and recognizing the experiences that I have had in my life and recognizing that those people that I interact with here in City Hall and in the community, come to those conversations with different experiences," he said.
Owens told WCPO 9 that she wanted to pick someone for city council that was "ready on Day 1." She considered 30 candidates and interviewed six people after consulting with a bipartisan committee.
When Nolan was selected by Owens, he said he was committed to "lifting up voices from every zip code."
When WCPO 9 sat down with the council member after he was appointed, he cited gun violence, pedestrian safety and "environmental justice" as focus issues during his service. Nolan also declared his intention to run for election.
Nolan said he looked forward to engaging with the community, meeting voters out in the community and hopefully winning their trust next November.
"What I hope to bring to City Hall is the ability to listen, to engage with the community," he said. "I spent eight years on the community council in Oakley. We went through a number of large projects, including a master plan of our own and it was important to engage everyone — not just the folks that showed up to our meetings."
Nolan's appointment was met with some pushback by some, including the NAACP. The group said the appointment shows just how easy it is for Black representation to be "easily disregarded."
Chris Seelbach, the city's first openly gay council member, also expressed his dissatisfaction with Nolan's appointment on X (formerly Twitter).
"Appointing a cis-gender, straight, white man to fill the term of Cincinnati’s first openly gay man of color is disappointing and a setback for our city," Seelbach wrote. "First time in almost 15 years that Cincinnati won’t have the lived experience of an openly LGBTQ+ person on council."
Appointing a cis-gender, straight, white man to fill the term of Cincinnati’s first openly gay man of color is disappointing and a setback for our City. First time in almost 15 years that Cincinnati won’t have the lived experience of an openly LGBTQ+ person on Council.
— Chris Seelbach (he/him) (@ChrisSeelbach) October 11, 2024
