The Athens city Democratic Central Committee voted unanimously Thursday to appoint Ohio University LGBT Center Director Micah McCarey to an at-large seat on Athens City Council, replacing former Councilmember Beth
Iris Virjee, an Independent running at-large for Athens City Council, is in it for the everyman.
Virjee, a bartender at the West Sideâs Smiling Skull Saloon who grew up in Mount Sterling, Ohio, graduated from Ohio University with a degree in urban planning and a certificate in wealth and poverty in spring 2020, just as the pandemic hit.
Amid the nationwide volatility of a health crisis that came to define the year, and a slew of personal hurdles, Virjee opted to forgo a professional career using her degree for what she described as the relative stability of work in a small town bar, despite health orders closing bars and restaurants for a time during that period.
Athens City Councilmember Beth Clodfelter resigned Monday after being placed on the short list for a regional representative position with U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brownâs office, ending her first and only term in office early.
Clodfelter, the second Democrat to resign from Council in recent weeks, said she had undergone since February an âintensiveâ application process for the job to serve as a liaison for Brown in southeast Ohio, meeting with leaders across 25 counties to take the political temperatures of each and report them back to the office. While Clodfelter hasnât formally accepted the job yet, she expects employment terms to be finalized in the coming days.