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Gavin embraces ambitious projects in mayor seat Vice Mayor Bill Gavin sits in at his makeshift office in City Hall on Friday. Gavin has been filling in for Mayor Robert Smith, who was briefly hospitalized in February and has been out of the office for seven weeks. “(S)ince I’ve been sitting in this position, I’ve taken on more and more responsibilities,” Gavin told The Dispatch last week. “I’ve made decisions, and I think I’ve done a pretty decent job of filling in for the mayor.” Isabelle Altman/Dispatch Staff Every week day by 9 a.m. since Feb. 22, Vice Mayor Bill Gavin h...

DiCicco defeats Gavin to claim Ward 6 council seat Ward 4 remains undecided; Stewart wins Democratic primary in Ward 1 Jacqueline DiCicco Starting July 1, Ward 6 will have a new representative on the Columbus City Council. Republican Jacqueline DiCicco unseated incumbent councilman and Vice Mayor Bill Gavin in a landslide, 301-114, in the Republican primary. With no other candidates in the race, DiCicco will be unchallenged in the general election on June 8. “I’m just overwhelmed with the numbers,” DiCicco told The Dispatch after the fi...

Our View: Is Ward 6 vote margin a referendum on direction of city? Tuesday’s primary elections in Columbus provided one piece of the puzzle. Will city government remain largely status quo? Or will the June 8 general elections introduce sweeping changes and a course correction for the city? With only two incumbents — Ward 2 councilman Joseph Mickens and Ward 5 councilman Stephen Jones — unopposed and assured of their seats, three other council positions, along with the mayor’s race, will not be determined until June. In the meantime, the one council seat that did change hands Tuesday w...

Columbus ends mask-wearing mandate Columbus City Council lifted its citywide mask mandate at its regular meeting Tuesday night, though not without some tense back and forth between two council members. The council voted 4-1 to require face coverings only in city buildings. Ward 2 Councilman Joseph Mickens opposed. Joseph Mickens “I think we’re making a huge mistake here,” Mickens said before the vote. “I’ve got to totally disagree with you on this one. What I’m hearing, what the (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) is saying now, (is) that we’ve got an uptick with a new ...

City looks to federal funding for $3.5M in infrastructure projects Pictured is a rendering for a proposed $1.15 million project to add sidewalks, crosswalks, islands and landscaping to Fifth Street North. City officials have passed on renderings to Rep. Trent Kelly’s office in hopes of this and three other projects receiving funding if Congress passes a $3 trillion package that includes $1 trillion for infrastructure improvements throughout the country. Vice Mayor Bill Gavin and City Engineer Kevin Stafford stressed the plans are still only potential projects and that Columbus may not re...