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New council member ready to 'learn the ropes'
(by Sue Reid - February 03, 2011)
New council member ready to 'learn the ropes'
By SUE REID
Following an executive session last week, Solon City Council moved to appoint Nancy E. Meany to the vacant Ward 5 council seat. She was sworn in prior to council's meeting Tuesday.
Mrs. Meany, a lifelong Solon resident, was appointed by a vote of 4-2. Voting in favor of the appointment were Councilmen Robert N. Pelunis, Richard A. Bell, William D. Mooney and William I. Russo. Opposing it were Councilman Edward H. Kraus and Councilwoman Toni M. Richmond.
Mrs. Meany, who was appointed to the planning commission last October, will step down from that position and serve on council's finance committee.
She said she is honored to be selected to serve the city on council. "I am just so honored and humbled to be given this opportunity," said Mrs. Meany, who is retired from the Cuyahoga County Domestic Relations Court and is a tutor at Lewis Elementary School in Solon. "The other folks who applied are all extremely competent people."
Three other candidates interviewed for the seat.
"I'm thrilled beyond words," Mrs. Meany said. "I look forward to working for the people of Ward 5 and the city."
Mayor Susan A. Drucker said she looks forward to working with Mrs. Meany in her new position.
"She is a lifelong resident of Solon who is engaged in the community, and I believe she will represent her ward well," Mrs. Drucker said.
Mr. Mooney, who nominated Mrs. Meany, said, "We had very good candidates, and a number of them would have made excellent council people."
He said his only disappointment is that more people did not apply for the position.
"I nominated Nancy, because I think it would be good to have a non-attorney on the group," Mr. Mooney said, referring to the fact that five of the seven council members are lawyers, as is Lon D. Stolarsky, who held the Ward 5 seat prior being appointed as city prosecutor a month ago.
Mr. Kraus said of his no vote, "I saw with a couple of the other candidates stronger community leadership and involvement."
He said he enjoyed the interview with Mrs. Meany. "She came across as a wonderful person and very easy to get along and to work with," Mr. Kraus said. "I expect that that is the way she will be as a council person for Ward 5. She'll be an absolutely wonderful addition to City Council."
Ms. Richmond said, "The candidate I was most comfortable with in terms of his level of not only management experience but also leadership experience was Larry Floyd.
"He did better in the interview and had the type of leadership experience that I was looking for."
Ms. Richmond said Mrs. Meany will do a "fine job."
Mrs. Meany said her short-term goals would be to work with the members of council and department heads and "learn the ropes from them."
"I've always been one to go with the experts," Mrs. Meany said, and to work with the people employed by the city and build relationships with them. "They are truly the backbone of it all," she said.
Mrs. Meany said she will keep open lines of communication with residents of her ward on all the issues they are facing, including the rezoning at SOM Center (Route 91) and Miles roads. "We have to wait and see what the judge does, but I feel that, when the owners purchased the land, they knew what it was zoned, and although they have the right to have it rezoned, it should stay the way it was," she said.
"I'm open-minded and always willing to listen. I will try to do my best to accommodate the citizens on all of the issues."
Mrs. Meany and her husband, Robert, have a son, Michael, who is a student at Solon High School.
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