New, old and returning faces open new session of Elyria City Council

This story has been edited to reflect the following correction: All Elyria council seats were up for election in November. ELYRIA — City Council chambers were virtually standing room only on Tuesday as Elyria saw some new, some familiar and some returning faces sworn in as elected officials. "This is exciting to see a lot of residents here in the Council chambers" said Councilman Vic Stewart, D-At-Large. "We would welcome that all the time, obviously sometimes we can't make that but (Council meetings) are on YouTube so be a part of those conversations and ask a lot of questions. We are only gonna make this community better if we're all working together." Mayor Kevin Brubaker, a Democrat, took his oath of office and his seat as the new mayor of Elyria, succeeding independent former Mayor Frank Whitfield, whom Brubaker served under as safety service director. "It's great to be back," Brubaker said. "It's great to be back in these chambers. These chambers mean a lot to me and I've been here for such a long period of time. … It's very nice to be back here and working with this body." Brubaker defeated Whitfield as well as Republican Alice Gobeille and independent Bill Grace in November. Also returning to Council chambers was Councilwoman Mary Siwierka, D-3rd Ward, who defeated incumbent Republican Mickey Corbin in November. Siwierka previously served as a Council member from 2009 to 2011, and as safety service director under Mayor Holly Brinda from 2012 to 2019. "I'm really excited," Siwierka said after the ceremony. "I think I bring a lot of experience and I'm looking forward to moving Elyria forward. I'm very excited about being a member of the Finance Committee, I feel that's one of my strong points and I've done city budgets for 20-plus years." Councilman Brad Armstrong, I–5th Ward, is not a new face within the chambers, but unlike Brubaker and Siwierka, Tuesday was his first time taking a seat there as a member of government. Armstrong won a tightly contested race against Democrat Brenda Warren to replace Democrat Dianne Simmons, who retired rather than seek reelection. "I'm excited and I'm ready to put in this work," Armstrong said. "I'm ready to do the right things for all my citizens. … I'm most excited about that bigger chance to produce more positive change for our city." All Council seats representing wards were up for reelection in November. Members who won reelection were also sworn in on Tuesday: Andrew Lipian, I-1st Ward; Donna Mitchell, D- 6th Ward; and Jack Cerra, D-7th Ward. Councilman Kenny Oswald, D-4th Ward, chose to be sworn in as a group with the sitting Council-At-Large members, rather than individually. One At-Large Council member, Democrat Tom Callahan, was sworn in individually. Councilwoman Brenda Davis, D-2nd Ward, was excused from the ceremony and was not sworn in. The other elected officials to take their oath of office Tuesday were Law Director Amanda Deery and Finance Director Ted Pileski, who swore each other in. Following the swearing-in ceremony, City Council held its first meeting of the new session, presided over by Stewart as the previous Council president. Stewart was nominated and approved to again serve as Council President and Mitchell was voted to serve as Council President Pro Tempore, empowering her to serve as Stewart's replacement when he is absent from Council. Also continuing in his role from last session is Clerk of Council Michael Lotko, who was unanimously approved. The Democratic members of Council voted to name Tom Callahan as Council majority leader for their party. The only two non-Democrats on Council are Lipian and Armstrong, both independents, and both voted to name Armstrong as Council Minority Leader. Though Lipian is Armstrong's senior on Council and previously served in that role, he was the one who nominated Armstrong to replace him. "I strongly believe that leadership positions should rotate, so I was happy to nominate Brad," Lipian said. Contact Owen MacMillan at (440) 329-7123 or omacmillan@chroniclet.com.