Columbus City Council to represent districts, gain two additional members in 2024

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- When the new year begins, Columbus City Council will look different.

For over 100 years, Columbus City Council has operated in a fully at-large system, meaning that members were elected to represent the whole city instead of specific areas. But in November, voters experienced a new system for the first time, with councilmembers now being elected to serve districts, and the council increasing from seven members to nine.

New additions include Nancy Day-Achauer, Chris Wyche, and Melissa Green. The three newcomers will serve alongside six incumbents:

• District 1: Wyche
• District 2: Day-Achauer
• District 3: Rob Dorans
• District 4: Emmanuel Remy
• District 5: Nicholas Bankston
• District 6: Green
• District 7: Shayla Favor
• District 8: Lourdes Barroso de Padilla
• District 9: Shannon Hardin

The council's first meeting with its new structure will be Tuesday. It will regard reorganization only. As previously reported by NBC4, the meeting will divide the nine districts into two lots via random draw. Members from the five districts selected in the first lot will serve four-year terms, with the four districts selected in the second lot serving two-year terms until 2026, when terms will be extended to four years.

The only incumbent councilmember not returning in 2024 is Mitchell Brown, who returned to the council in 2023 to fulfill the unexpired term of Elizabeth Brown after he had retired in 2021.