ONTARIO—Members of the Ontario Precinct Committee of the Richland County Republican Party met on Thursday evening to determine a replacement for the Republican Ontario-at-Large position. The position was vacated by Charlotte Hellinger on July 31, 2013 and on Thursday was filled by Eddie Gallo.
Gallo, of Spring Village Lane in the city of Ontario, currently works for Newman Technology, Inc. as the Operations and Logistics Coordinator. This will be his first time to fill a council position.
In a letter addressed to the Republican Party Central Committee Chairman Mark Arnold, Charlotte Hellinger noted the reason for her retirement: “Although it’s my desire to fulfill my term, changes in the Ohio Public Employment Retirement System have made it necessary to retire early. It has been a privilege to serve the citizens of Ontario since 1988 as a member of City Council. I’ve enjoyed working for the city and it has been an honor to serve the community for the past 25 years.”
Arnold stated the precedent has been with the village and city of Ontario that when a vacancy occurs the committee would advertise the vacancy, screen candidates, vet the candidates, set up interviews, choose a candidate, and vote.
In this case, however, there were two people from the Republican Party (Roger Heston and Eddie Gallo) who were already on the ballot in November and a third person (Larry Arnold) currently serving in the capacity of Councilman-at-Large, who is also running for re-election in November. Arnold carried out a straw vote to see what the committee wanted to do and decided that he did not want to go through a lengthy process if the outcome was predetermined.
Arnold stated that he had “done his homework” and was informed that Eddie Gallo was the candidate of choice by the other committee members.
Roger Heston stated, “The reason we picked Eddie Gallo is because he was the second highest vote-getter in the last primary for a council seat, second by me and if have to finish the job I may, which lasts at least until the end of this year unless I get re-appointed.”
That being the case, Arnold stated that a candidate must still be vetted, and since he does not know Gallo personally, he asked Gallo a series of questions via email. Gallo did reply with his answers via email, as well as with a personal phone call with Arnold.
When asked what goals he’d have as councilman, Gallo noted, “To act with great integrity and responsibility on behalf of the citizens is a given. Tangibly my goal is to dive in to the economic growth sector to try to draw more business to Ontario.”
The vote to approve Gallo as Hellinger’s replacement was unanimous among the committee members Roger Heston, Beverly Collins, and Mark Arnold.
The Board of Elections will be informed of the decision and Gallo will be sworn in as soon as allowed by law.
Eddie Gallo noted his goals, “To act with great integrity and responsibility on behalf of the citizens is a given. Tangibly my goal is to dive in to the economic growth sector to try to draw more business to Ontario.”
