The city of Alexandria welcomed its new council member, Patrick Blair, who was appointed to fill a vacancy.
Former council member Susan Vanlandingham left the vacancy due to a move out of the city. Blair will fill the remainder of Vanlandingham’s term, which ends on Dec. 31. He was among 10 applicants for the position.
“I was hoping we’d get one application for this,” Alexandria Mayor Andy Schabell said. “We have 10 and that’s amazing. I appreciate all of your interest. Obviously, we don’t have 10 spots up here. The council is tasked with a major undertaking here. We’ve got big shoes to fill—Miss Vanlandingham was a fantastic council person for us.”
Each candidate was invited to the May 2 council meeting to speak about who they are and why they wanted to be on the council.
Blair, a resident of 17 years, shared some of his qualifications that would benefit the three committees currently linked to the role. Blair will serve as chair of the future planning committee and on the personnel and business retention and development committees.
“As part of the future planning committee and business retention committee, I will leverage my past experience as a leader of a county-wide industrial development corporation and the chamber of commerce,” he said. “I researched land for development via a Cinergy—at that time helicopter, fought for grants from state coffers, and shared assurances to the community that the ‘real Santa Claus’ would relocate to our downtown for the holidays.”
For the personnel committee, Blair said he would leverage his experience as a communications lead for a Fortune 50 human resources officer, which put him at the forefront of personnel issues that impacted the reputation of a multinational corporation.
“I offer these shared experiences merged with a true desire to serve this city for the remainder of this term,” Blair said. “My motives for this service are sincere and rooted in a true passion for Alexandria. As I’ve mentioned in my application, I’ve literally never lived in any other house longer than the one I have on Keys Drive, and I can think of no way to give back than joining this council and the continued positive and controlled growth and progress for our city.”
The city council met in executive session to discuss the appointment. Schabell was not a voting member.
The council said the decision was a close one.
“Let me reiterate, it was very close,” Alexandria Council Member Stacey Graus said. “We found so many good candidates—and we hope that one of you will sit on planning and zoning because we do have a vacancy.”
Schabell encouraged the remaining candidates who weren’t selected to run for city council. The application deadline for that is June 4.
After the meeting, Blair was sworn in by Alexandria City Clerk Stephanie Tarter.
