YOUNGSTOWN — City council voted to appoint Cynthia McWilson to represent the 6th Ward, a position that’s been vacant for more than two months.

After initially voting 4-2 Wednesday against Janet Tarpley, a former 6th Ward councilman — who was nominated first — council members then backed McWilson 4-2.

“I’m excited to work with the other council members and I am very elated for the affirmative vote,” McWilson said after getting the appointment. “I’m going to do everything in my power to work with the city council members and I’m excited to go ahead and hit the ground running.”

Voting for McWilson — and against Tarpley — were Councilmen Julius Oliver, D-1st Ward; Jimmy Hughes, D-2nd Ward; Mike Ray, D-4th Ward; and Pat Kelly, D-5th Ward.

Voting for Tarpley — and against McWilson — were Councilwomen Samantha Turner, D-3rd Ward, and Amber White, I-7th Ward.

McWilson succeeds Democrat Anita Davis, who stepped down from the ward seat on Jan. 1 to serve as council president. The seat, which represents most of the city’s South Side, has been vacant since then.

A registered nurse for 35 years and a member of the Mahoning County Democratic Party’s central committee for 29 years, McWilson lost Democratic primaries in 1999, 2003 and 2015 for the 5th Ward council seat. After the 2022 citywide redistricting, her residence was moved into the 6th Ward.

Despite the defeats, McWilson said she continued to be active in the community, working on local boards and with various Democratic candidates.

“I’ve never strayed even when I lost elections,” she said. “I still stayed active in the community, unlike some people. They just hide and wait until the next opportunity comes up to be seen again.”

McWilson said she is thankful the “council members believe enough in me to go ahead and vote for me and appoint me to the position. I’m excited to work with them.”

Before the vote, Tarpley said she didn’t expect to get the appointment even though she is the most-qualified candidate. She plans to run for the seat in the 2027 election.

Tarpley represented the 6th Ward for eight years, elected in 2007 and 2011. She couldn’t seek reelection in the 2015 election because of the city’s term-limits law. Tarpley unsuccessfully ran for an Ohio House seat in the 2014 Democratic primary and lost the Youngstown mayoral race in 2017 as an independent.

Tarpley ran in the 2023 Democratic primary for the 6th Ward seat, finishing in a 273-273 tie with Davis. Davis won the primary on a coin flip. Tarpley retired in 2018 after working 30 years at Mahoning County Juvenile Court.

McWilson and Tarpley were among four candidates to apply to city council for the appointment by the Feb. 20 deadline.

The two others were Catrina Donald, president of the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District board of directors and Davis’ niece, and Ryan Gilchrist, owner and operator of Ryan’s Chair Barber & Beauty Salon and husband to Stephanie Gilchrist, the city’s economic development director.

Council heard from the four candidates during the public speaking portion of Wednesday’s meeting, giving each of them three minutes.

As the last order of business at Wednesday’s meeting, council went into executive session for nearly an hour to deliberate on the 6th Ward selection and to discuss legislation to reduce the number of fire lieutenants from 28 to 27 that was given a first reading at the meeting.

The responsibility of filling the seat fell to city council because the county Democratic Party was unable to have a quorum of central committee members from the 6th Ward meet to find a successor to Davis, a Democrat.

McWilson will fill the ward seat until Dec. 31, 2027, with a November 2027 election for a full four-year term.

State law required the county party to have up to 45 days to appoint. After that, council had 30 days, which started Feb. 15. The deadline to appoint was March 17.

If council didn’t come to a decision with at least four votes for a candidate by then, the appointment would have been made by the mayor, Derrick McDowell.