City Council picks former member Mitchell Brown to fill vacancy

On Jan 10, 2023

Columbus City Council president Shannon Hardin speaks to Ramon Obey II, president of JUST 614, on Monday at City Hall.

Columbus City Council President Shannon Hardin said the council will explore the possibility of funding a community-based assistance program for victims of crime after about 30 people showed up at Monday’s meeting to express concern about how officials have handled the shooting death last fall of 13-year-old Sinzae Reed.

“I take advocacy very seriously,” Council President Shannon Hardin told The Dispatch after the meeting, adding that he would recommend the council work with Columbus Public Health to determine if funding for such a program could be identified in the city’s budget.

Also Monday, City Council voted 6-0 to appoint former council member Mitchell Brown to serve the remaining roughly one-year term of Pro Tem Elizabeth Brown, who resigned last month to take over as executive director of YWCA Columbus. The selection of Mitchell Brown, who said he was retiring from council when he left on Dec. 31, 2021, came as little surprise to many, including the other candidates, as he was the only name nominated for the opening and he was approved without debate.

Family members and activist advocates of 13-year-old Sinzae Reed, who was fatally shot in October at a Columbus Hilltop apartment complex, spoke before council during the meeting. They have held press conferences and other events to call attention to the case, including a rally Sunday at the Ohio Statehouse.

Dejuan Sharp, an activist who said he lives near the shooting location and has become a contact point person for Reed’s family, said the family should have been notified when charges against the accused shooter had been dropped, he was released from jail and was back living near them at the Wedgewood Apartments complex in the city’s Hilltop neighborhood.

The Columbus Care Coalition, which is supposed to help provide services to victims’ families, did not do so in the case of the Reed family, and the Hilltop community stepped in to help the family in their time of mourning, Sharp said.

Krieg Butler, 36, was initially arrested by Columbus police and charged with murder in Reed’s death. He was ordered held on $1 million bond, but charges later were dropped by Franklin County Prosecutor Gary Tyack’s office pending an autopsy report from the county coroner’s office and further police investigation into Butler’s claim of self-defense in the shooting. A 2019 law by the Ohio General Assembly that places more burden on the prosecution in cases where a defendant maintains self-defense.

Columbus police have said they are still awaiting forensic and ballistic evidence to be processed and the investigation remains open. Both the prosecutor’s office and police reminded that there is no time limit on filing charges in a murder case.

Activists on Monday asked the city council to establish community-based “trauma care” organizations that would serve as a liaisons with families and communicate developments in murder cases.

Sinzae Reed:What we know about the death of 13-year-old Sinzae Reed in Columbus, Ohio

“We just don’t know if we have the City Council members on our side to get the job done,” said Ramon Obey II, president of JUST (Justice, Unity & Social Transformation) 614.

“We don’t need the police. We need better options and people that understand our community a little better,” Obey said of the community-based liaison approach. He also said that he was offended by what he maintained was a larger-than-usual police presence in the council chambers Monday in apparent anticipation of the group’s appearance.

Obey later told reporters outside council chambers that his organization would want to be among those receiving funding to act as a liaison group with victims’ families.

City Public Safety Director Robert Clark said that he was learning for the first time during the meeting that Reed’s family wasn’t informed Butler had been released from jail. As director of Public Safety and the son of murdered father, Clark said he “would go back and assess what happened.”

Activists were unhappy that the council’s YouTube livestream was down during the segment of the meeting where they spoke before council, displaying a message that the meeting “will resume shortly.” The feed resumed after City Council moved on to other business.

City Council spokesperson Nya Hairston said members of the public speaking on non-agenda items aren’t televised by the city under council rules. Typically, the public speaks at the end of the meeting, Hairston said, but on Monday the council allowed the Reed group to be heard near the start of the night.

Hardin said the council is grateful to have Mitchell Brown back for the remainder of this year, saying Brown brings needed experience while agreeing to not seek reelection to the seat. Twenty-seven people had applied to fill the vacancy.

In the November general election, the city council will expand from seven to nine district seats. Only one member can reside in each of nine new residential districts. But unlike wards, voters citywide can still vote for candidates in any residential district.

After the nine council members are elected, they will draw straws to see if they will have won two- year or four-year terms, so that they are staggered in the future.

In other business, City Council withdrew objections to the state on renewing eight liquor permits out of a dozen that it had voted to oppose last month, saying they had become homes to routine crime and violence.

Columbus Assistant City Attorney Sarah Pomeroy said the city had reached agreements with each of the eight on things like updating security cameras, providing additional security, staff training and better lighting, and all are now under the supervision of the Environmental Court, allowing the city an enforcement option depending on noncompliance or future incidents.

The eight liquor license objections that were withdrawn include: PJ’s Grill at 15 East Frambes Ave.; Moments Grill and Lounge, 2545 Petzinger Road; Midway on High, 1728 N. High St.; Save Way Mini Mart, 2585 W. Broad St.; Sunoco station at 2725 West Broad St., Speedway #1216 at 6175 East Livingston Ave.; United Dairy Farmers (UDF) Store #649, 530 S. Hague Ave.; and UDF 634, 1680 N. High St.