Waner recognized by Columbia City Council at her last meeting
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Columbia City Council recognized Ward 2 Councilwoman Andrea Waner on Monday in what was her last meeting as a councilwoman.
Waner announced her resignation in October, effective Nov. 22. Waner told ABC 17 News on Oct. 2 that she is resigning because she is moving into a new home outside of Ward 2.
The City Council will hold a special meeting at 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 27, to choose from one-of-eight people applying for the spot. Whoever they choose will hold the seat until April when Waner’s term was set to expire in April. The seat will then be up for election.
The city announced last month that it will be accepting applications for an appointment until 5 p.m. Monday. Eight people have applied so far for the soon-to-be-open Ward 2 Columbia City Council seat.
The eight people who have applied, according to an email from Columbia City Clerk Sheela Amin, are:
- Susan Renee Carter
- Rachel Proffitt
- Lisa Meyer
- William Moyes
- Cornellia Williams
- Frederick Saffold
- Robert Schreiber III
- Lucio Martino Bitoy IV
During Monday’s council meeting Ward 3 Councilman Roy Lovelady announced his endorsement for Susan Renee Carter.
Warner’s family was in attendance to watch as the city gifted her several plaques and a piece of art the was designed to look like a whiskey barrel with a photo of Waner’s family in the center.
Waner also addressed the crowd in a speech that she said she had been thinking about for weeks.
“I’ve stayed up later than any parent should. reading memos and meeting minutes,” Waner said during the speech. “Just trying to find points of consensus and trying to do the most amount of good for the most amount of people as possible.”
Nov. 22. will mark the first day in nearly a decade that Waner has not been serving the cCty of Columbia in some capacity. During her time in Columbia, she has been a city employee, commission member, council member, and mayor pro tem.
She has served on the City Council since April 2021 after beating out Jim Meyer and Bill Weitkemper for the Ward 2 council seat. It is a role that she admits hasn’t always been easy.
“There is vitriol that comes with occupying this seat,” Waner said during the council meeting. “I would be lying to you if I said this experience has been easy. it hasn’t. when sitting in the hospital trying not to have my baby ten weeks early I remember getting a message that there was work being done because I wasn’t good enough as an ally. At that same time, someone joked that I had my baby early so I could miss out on that year’s budget.
During her farewell speech, she also took time to acknowledge each of her fellow council members.
“This has been the most exhilarating, exhausting, rewarding, soul-crushing, life-affirming work I’ve ever done and I will miss it with every fiber of my being.
