Urbana Ward 3 Appointment

 

In a followup of the application and decision process for Urbana City Council's Ward 3 alderman seat (more on that here). The appointment was required to replace Aaron Ammons Urbana alderman seat after he won the Champaign County Clerk race. WCCU had a video segment on the appointment available here. From yesterday's News-Gazette:

Daughter of Urbana's first black alderman sworn in as Ammons' replacement
...
On Monday night, Shirese Hursey was sworn in as the newest council member, filling the seat vacated by newly elected Champaign County Clerk Aaron Ammons and formerly occupied by her father, Paul S. Hursey...

Hursey will serve out Ammons' term, which ends on May 3, 2021.

Mayor Diane Marlin said her decision to pick Hursey from a field of five applicants was the hardest she's had to make as mayor. She said she chose Hursey because she'll be "an articulate voice for the residents of Ward 3," having so far advocated for the creation of neighborhood associations and watch groups and for a full-service grocery store.

Hursey said she learned to have a civic mindset from her advocate parents, both members of the Ellis Drive Six, the group that asked the Urbana school board to integrate black students into predominately white schools. She remembers her parents always trying to get people out to vote and looking for ways to be civil servants, including each of them running for mayor of Urbana.

Now, Hursey will work toward her No. 1 one goal: to bring a grocery store to Ward 3, an issue she first brought to the council last fall.

More information at the full article here.