NELSONVILLE, Ohio – Nelsonville has a new city manager — the first permanent appointment to the position since October 2023, and the first to hold the office since former City Manager Tom Cangemi was placed on administrative leave in August 2024.
Nelsonville City Council passed ordinances at its April 28 meeting: one hiring Fred Holmes and one to relieve interim City Manager Devon Tolliver effective May 1. Tolliver, the city’s police chief, will help Holmes’ transition until June 30.
Holmes is an American Red Cross volunteer and has been deployed over 41 times to help disaster relief efforts. The council formally recognized him for his service in 2023.
“I am honored and privileged to be working with this council,” Holmes said. “When my community that I know needs my help and my skills and my abilities, it would be irresponsible for me to say no.”
Tolliver had served as interim city manager for nine months. He previously acted as city manager for four months following Bernie Roell’s resignation in May 2023 and for 12 days in January 2023, between K.J. Tracy and Tracy Galway.
Also at the April 28 meeting, former city manager Scott Frank alleged the city has not paid him for his contract work at the utility department.
Frank said he invoiced the city on March 27 and has not received a check, pointing to the check report that City Auditor Taylor Sappington had just shared to the council.
“We’re [at] 35 days now. I have no idea when I’m going to get paid,” Frank said. “I read every single check number there. I didn’t see my name on there anywhere.”
The finance committee told Frank they would reevaluate the rate at which the city approves check reports to get people paid faster. Frank said he is no longer donating seven parcels to the city to expand the Polley Field, also known as Nelsonville Park.
In other business, Reid Courtney, the chair of the ad-hoc advisory commission chair, said the commission will host a town hall at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 20, for city employees to ask questions about the government transition and how it will affect their departments.
Courtney also reported that the Ohio League of Women Voters plans to host meetings in May and June about drawing ward maps. The League hosted its first town hall on the subject on April 27. The league invited residents to draw their own maps.
The council also:
- Passed an ordinance authorizing the city manager to apply for, accept and enter into an overflow sewer grant to pay for the city’s phase five sewer project.
- Passed an ordinance to contract with BL Anderson for a project to upgrade an existing scatter control panel at the Nelsonville water treatment.
- Introduced an ordinance setting the authorized staff in city departments through 2025.
- Tabled a resolution to appoint a special prosecutor to represent the city in a case against Rita Nguyen, who was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor for disrupting a lawful meeting after she interrupted a council meeting on April 14.
Nelsonville City Council meets every other Monday of each month, at Nelsonville City Council Chambers, 211 Lake Hope Drive. Its next regular meeting will be Monday, May 12, 2025, at 7 p.m. Meetings are live streamed on YouTube. Find more at cityofnelsonville.com.
Correction: This article has been updated to correct dates of a council meeting and photograph.
