Councilwoman Thompson possesses over twenty-three years of demonstrated leadership and volunteering experience in the city of Warrensville Heights. Before being elected to city council, she was the second African-American woman in the history of the Ohio State Parent Teacher Association (PTAs) to serve as Board Manager. She is the first African-American woman to serve as Ohio State Parent Teacher Associations Parent & Family Life Commissioner. Thompson served four two-year terms as Warrensville Heights City School District PTA Council President. She is the recipient of several volunteer awards from the Parent Teacher Association.

Her parents introduced her to excellence in education, civic involvement and public service early in life. She diligently applied her educational training to seventeen years in commercial insurance management and thirteen years of service in the Warrensville Heights City School District.

When the time came to take her community activism to the “next level,” she set her eyes on a seat in city council. She was first elected in 2000 and re-elected in 2003. She is past city council president, and presently chairs both the Special Legislation and Property & Supplies Committees. She is vice-chair of the Safety and Service Committees.

Always committed to improving the quality of life for citizens through public policy, she has been instrumental in putting forth safety initiative as a member of the safety committee. As council president she hosted the first annual “Town Hall Meeting” designed to keep residents informed in all operations of our city government. She is a firm believer in the adage that one person can make a difference.

Councilwoman Thompson is a member of the Northern Ohio City Council Association (NOCCA) Executive Board, a member of the National League of Cities (NLC), National League of Black Elected Officials (NBC-LEO), Women in Municipal Government (WIMG), Ohio Municipal League (OML), and life member of the National Parent Teacher Association (NPTA). She is an active participant in the Nation League Leadership Training Summit, and attended The John Glenn Institute of Public Service & Public Policy. She is a graduate of the Maxine Goodman-Levin College of Elected Officials, and the first city council member in Warrensville Heights’s history to be certified by the Ohio Municipal League’s Municipal Leadership Training Acade

She strives continuously to exhibit integrity, promise and leadership within her responsibility and the schema of City Council.

Ward 2 Councilwoman Andrea Mitchelll

Elected to a four year term in November 2011, Andrea began serving “The Friendly City” on January 1, 2012 and is chairperson of the Safety Committee and the Service Committee.  She is also a member of: Transportation, Property and Supplies, and Economic Development.  

Born and raised in the City of Warrensville Heights, Andrea is a mother, daughter, sister and active, life-long member of Aldersgate United Methodist Church.  A Graduate of Warrensville Heights City School District, she wears her Tiger Pride boldly.  Andrea earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communication—Public Relations, from the University of Toledo in 1991 and a Master of Science in Journalism and Mass Communication from Iowa State University in 1994. 

Adjunct Professor, Tim Russert Department of Communication and Theatre Arts at John Carroll University

Executive Director—The Delta Center, Cleveland, Ohio

Manager of Community Relations and Events—TOPS Markets LLC

Communication Specialist—Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA)

Editor—Cleveland Life Magazine

Member Warrensville City School District Strategic Plan Team

Member Warrensville Heights Charter Review Committee

Member Warrensville Heights Master Plan Advisory Committee

Member—Warrensville Heights High School Alumni Association

Diamond Life Member— Delta Sigma Theta SororiMember—Harvest For Hunger Oversight Committee ty Incorporated

Member—Cleveland chapter- National Association of Black Journalists

Cleveland Bridge Builders Flagship Class of 2006

Board Member—YWCA of Greater Cleveland

Board Member—The Earthday Coalition

Board Member—Urban Journalism Workshop

Andrea has learned a lot from her work with more than five-hundred communities.  She is proud to use her experiences for the most important community—her own.

Warrensville Heights is not just any city… Warrensville Heights is home!

“My life belongs to the whole community, and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatsoever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no ‘brief candle’ for me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.”
                                  ~Author Unknown

Residency
23 year resident of Warrensville Heights
Member of Aldersgate United Methodist Church

Occupation
Hairstylist, 27 years

Family
Spouse: Samuel White, Sr.
Children: Samuel, Jr., LaMar, DaLorean
Grandchildren: J’Shawn, Brooke, Jaidyn

Council Committees
* Vice-Chair Finance Committee – 2004
* Member – Personnel & Compensation Committee - 2004
* Council President – 2003
* Member – Senior Citizen Committee – 2003, 2004
* Chairperson Planning Commission – 2002, 2003, 2004
* Chairperson Personnel & Compensation Committee – 2003
* Member – Community Activities & Recreation – 2003
* Chairperson – Community Activities & Recreation – 2002
* Chairperson – Utilities- 2002
* Chairperson – Safety Committee – 2002

Committed to Community Service
* President – Westwood Neighborhood Association – 2003, 2004
* Member – Tri-City Democratic Club
* Scholarship Chairperson – Warrensville Heights Senior High School – PTO 2002, 2003, 2004
* Member – Westwood School PTO – 2003, 2004
* Member – Warrensville Heights Senior High School Athletic Booster Cub

City Council Training Courses
* Ohio Planning Conference; Planning and Zoning Workshop
* Municipal Budgeting in Ohio
* Notes and Bonds; Debt Issues; Investment Policies
* Civil Service in Cities and Shared Authority in Villages
* State and Federal Employee Mandates
* Employment Issues: EEOC, Sexual Harassment, Hiring, Firing, Training, Employee Handbooks, etc.
* Planning and Zoning
* Community and Economic Development
* Municipal Law
* City Council Leadership
* Newly Elected Officials
* Municipal Finance
* Ethics and Credibility, The Local Official
* Media Relations and Crisis: Communications for Local Officials
* Council – Mayor Relations: Working Together
* Municipal Law: What You Can and Cannot Do

The Honorable Ruby Nelson

•  Is serving her second four year term as Councilmember of the City of Warrensville Heights to a diverse constituency in Ward 4 that consist of people living [working] in single family dwellings, multi-unit buildings and small businesses.  Attended Cleveland State University Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs and Syracuse University Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

Council Committees 2004 - 2007

• Safety, chair 2007, vice chair 2006
• Senior, chair 2005, vice Chair 2007
• Finance
• Beautification
• Economic Informational
• Personnel and Compensation, chair 2005
• Special Legislation, chair 2004
• Tax Review Board
• Transportation
• Utilities

Civic/Community Involvement

• City of Warrensville Heights Civil Service Commission, member 2001, chair 2002 – 2003
• City of W. H. School Board Finance Committee, 2006 – 2007
• Warrensville Heights City School District Community Partnership Initiative, 2005
•  City of W. H. Senior Police Academy 2006
• City of W. H. Emergency Preparedness Program
• American Red Cross Government Emergency Management Liaison/served during 2006 Lake County flood disaster
• Tri-City Chamber of Commerce
• Tri-City Non Profit Independent Political Organization, Executive Committee, Vice President
• Tri-City Democratic Club, Executive Committee, Secretary
• Suburban Black Elected Officials, Executive Committee
• North East Ohio City Council Association, Board of Directors Nominating Committee
• Cleveland Tenants Organization, member 2004, Chair of Board of Trustees, 2007
• National League of Cities, NBC LEO, 2004 - 2007
• North East Ohio Municipal League
• Senior Voice [AFLCIO]
• Cuyahoga County Executive Committee Member
• A private contractor for the Cuyahoga County Department of Senior and Adult Services/Community Office on Aging; partially responsible for outreach to introduce and assist older adults and caregivers to a national Benefits Check-Up program initiative [program now a permanent tool utilized at most social service agencies] that has more than 1,000 federal, state and local benefits programs available via the Internet, 2003 - 2004
• Outstanding volunteer award from the Washington D. C. National Director of the Minority Organ Tissue Transplant Education Program for 10 years of service, 2005.  The year 2007 equals 12 years of continued service.
• Spotlighted in Cleveland Magazine August 2007; Redefining Retirement, as [one of] three Cleveland seniors having moved happily into the next phase of their lives.
• Celebrating African American Achievements/Who’s Who in Black Cleveland 2004-2007.

Introduced the Following Legislation

• Landlords and Tenants involving utility charges
• Resolution in support of local municipalities currently urging state lawmakers not to cut the local government fund
• Resolution supporting House Bill 293 which proposes senior citizen tax deferral
• Resolution supporting House Bill 294 that proposes expedited foreclosure procedures for abandoned land that has delinquent tax charges
• Resolution recognizing the employee free choice act; right to form/join unions
• Resolution supporting House Bill 138 which ask for timely certification of property ownership, requiring deeds to be filed within 14 days of foreclosure sale etc; Bill 138 will support the City of Warrensville Heights goal to increase its land bank at minimal cost to the City.

As Chairperson of the Personnel and Compensation Committee [cost saving measures] amended ordinance establishing longevity bonuses for certain administrative personnel and employees and clarifying and restating W. H. codified ordinance regarding employee vacations as related to supervisory personnel.

PERSONAL NOTE

Education
Graduated from Indiana State University with Bachelor of Science Degree in Family and Consumer Science
Attended Case Western Reserve Evening School Education Courses
Graduated from Kent State University with Master’s Degree in Education, Guidance and Counseling
One year training in Conflict Mediation

Professional Organizations
Kappa Omicron Nu – National Honor Society
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated
Phi Delta Kappa Sorority, Alpha XI Chapter – Teacher’s Organization
Recipient of Martha Holden Jennings Award for Outstanding Teacher
Cleveland Family and Consumer Science Association

Community Service
Department Chairman for 14 years in Family and Consumer Science
Five years as Vocational Job Training Teacher Coordinator
Former President and Treasurer of Clarkwood Condominium Association #2
Member of Liberty Hill Baptist Church
Member of National Association of Parliamentarians (NAP)
Former volunteer of Pastoral Ministries, South Pointe Hospital
Precinct Committee Member
Member Tri-city Democratic Club
Member of Cuyahoga County Democratic Party

Kimberly Hodge Edwards began serving as council member in January, 2000. She is currently serving in her second term as a council member in Warrensville Heights. She is currently serving as City Council President, for the year of 2004. Kimberly is serving as the chair of Finance and Transportation committees. She also serves on the Building Committee, Community Activities/Recreation Committee and the Utilities Committee.

Councilwoman Hodge Edwards graduated from Urbana University with a BA in 1991. She earned her Master of Science in Social Administration (MSSA) in 1995, from Case Western Reserve University. She is currently employed with Cuyahoga County Board of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disability as a Support Administrator.

Kimberly is married to Ronald Edwards for 8 years and they have 3 children.