New Albany City Council: Members, Legislation, and Meetings

The New Albany City Council is the seven-member legislative body that governs the City of New Albany, Ohio under a council-manager form of government. It writes local law, levies taxes, sets zoning, adopts the annual budget, and hires the city manager who runs day-to-day operations.¹

Who Serves on the Council

The council has seven members, including the mayor. Six members are elected at-large, so every voter in the city picks from the same slate regardless of neighborhood. Terms run four years and start on January 1 after the election. Seats are staggered across election cycles so the entire council never turns over at once. Four members make a quorum.¹

The mayor is elected on a separate ballot rather than chosen from among sitting members. The mayor presides over council meetings and handles ceremonial duties, serving a four-year term in a distinct elected office.²

There is no vice mayor. At its organizational meeting, the council selects one of its own as President pro tempore by four affirmative votes. That member fills in when the mayor is temporarily absent or unable to serve. If both are unavailable, the council member with the longest continuous elected service acts as mayor.³

Sloan Spalding has served as mayor since first being elected in 2015, with re-elections in 2019 and 2023. As of 2026, sitting council members are Marlene Brisk, Mike Durik, Kasey Kist (President pro tempore), Matt Shull, and Andrea Wiltrout, with a vacancy process underway for an open seat.²

How Someone Gets on the Council

To run for any elected office in New Albany, you have to be a registered voter who has lived inside the city limits (or in an area annexed to the city) for at least one year before filing a nominating petition. You also have to stay a city resident and registered voter throughout the term.¹

There are no primary elections for city office. Candidates reach the ballot by collecting between 25 and 75 signatures from registered city voters. Races are nonpartisan, and group petitions are not allowed. Each candidate files on their own.¹

Mid-Term Vacancies

If a council seat opens before the term ends, the remaining members fill it by majority vote. If they don’t act within 60 days, the mayor must appoint a qualified replacement. How long the appointee serves depends on timing. A vacancy on or before June 30 of the second year of the term lasts only until the next regular municipal election. A vacancy on or after July 1 of the second year lets the appointee serve out the rest of the unexpired term.⁴

When the mayor’s office goes vacant, the President pro tempore automatically steps up, with the same timing rules deciding whether service runs to the next election or the end of the term.³

What the Council Can Do

Charter Section 4.02 gives the council all legislative power of the city. In practice, that covers setting employee positions and pay across city departments, levying taxes and assessments, regulating land use through zoning, investigating any city department, and appropriating funds through the annual budget.¹

The council can also create, combine, or abolish city departments, boards, and commissions that the charter itself does not establish. That is how the structure of city government gets reshaped over time without amending the charter.

Officials Tied to the Council

Three positions sit close to the council, each with a different relationship:

The city manager is appointed and removed by the council, which also sets the manager’s pay. The manager runs daily operations as the city’s chief executive.¹
The Clerk of Council is appointed by the council and serves at its pleasure, handling meeting notices and minutes under the council’s direction and the manager’s general supervision.¹
The Director of Law is appointed by the city manager but subject to the council’s consent and approval, acting as the city’s prosecuting attorney and legal counsel and serving at the pleasure of both.¹

How the Council Passes Legislation

The council acts through two main instruments. Ordinances are used for legislation of a general or permanent nature and carry the force of local law. Resolutions handle temporary, informal, or ceremonial matters. Routine administrative choices move on simple motions.¹

A standard ordinance gets a public hearing at the next designated meeting after introduction, published at least seven days before the hearing. Resolutions receive their public hearing when introduced, so they can move more quickly. Once the hearing closes and the council discusses the measure, members can adopt it with or without amendments, reject it, or table it.³

Emergency Ordinances

When the council has to act immediately for public health, safety, or welfare, it can designate an ordinance as an emergency measure. The ordinance must state the reason for the urgency. An emergency ordinance can be adopted after a single reading with at least five affirmative votes. If it gets a majority but falls short of five votes, it still passes but takes effect as a regular ordinance rather than immediately.³

When Legislation Takes Effect

Resolutions and certain ordinances take effect as soon as they are adopted. That immediate category includes appropriations of money, annual tax levies, certain improvement assessments, election-related measures, and emergency ordinances. Every other ordinance takes effect 30 days after adoption, or later if the council sets a later date. The 30-day window gives residents time to learn about the new law and, if they want, pursue a referendum under Ohio law.¹

Budget

Adopting the annual budget is one of the council’s heaviest responsibilities. The city manager must submit a proposed budget for the coming fiscal year by the first council meeting in November. The council then reviews, amends, and must adopt a balanced budget and appropriation ordinance by mid-December.⁵

Execution runs through the city manager once the budget is adopted, but the council keeps control over appropriation levels and can order independent audits of city accounts on top of any required state audits.¹

Meetings and How Residents Can Weigh In

The council meets at Village Hall, 99 W. Main Street in New Albany.⁶ Sessions are generally held twice a month, with the calendar posted on the city website. Dates can shift around holidays and special sessions, so confirming on the City Council Business page is worth a quick check.

Public hearings are built into the process for both ordinances and resolutions, so residents have a formal opportunity to speak before a vote. To speak at a public hearing, you need to attend in person. Regular meetings also include a Hearings of Visitors segment where residents can raise other concerns, and speakers typically sign in before the meeting to be recognized.

Pay

Council members receive an annual salary paid biweekly. Under the most recent publicly available compensation ordinance from 2022, council members earned about $11,961 per year and the mayor earned about $26,100. A President pro tempore or any council member who regularly presides over Mayor’s Court receives about $5,986 more per year on top of the base council salary.⁷

Ethics Rules

The charter does not create a local ethics code or local conflict-of-interest rules for council members. Under Charter Section 2.02, anything the charter and local legislation do not specifically address is governed by Ohio law.¹ Ohio’s state ethics statutes and Ohio Ethics Commission guidance therefore apply by default, including financial disclosure requirements, limits on accepting things of value, and rules on participating in decisions where a member has a personal financial interest.

1
City of New Albany. City of New Albany Charter
2
City of New Albany. City Council and Mayor
3
Municode Library. Charter of the City of New Albany – Article IV Council
4
City of New Albany. Application for Appointment to New Albany City Council
5
City of New Albany. 2025 Annual Budget Program
6
City of New Albany. Village Hall
7
City of New Albany. Ordinance O-01-2022