Eric Costello was easily confirmed Monday by the Baltimore City Council to represent the 11th district in spite of objections from some of his neighbors and a call for a “re-do” of the nominating process by nine other candidates for the seat.
The council took a recess so Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake could swear in the 33-year-old information technology auditor for the Federal Government. Costello will finish the term of Bill Cole who left the council in August to lead the Baltimore Development Corporation.
Costello, a Democrat, said the first thing he will do as councilman will be to talk with the residents of Marble Hill in West Baltimore; the first community he visited when he decided to apply for the open seat.
“For the portion of the [neighborhood association meeting] that I was there, they talked about some of the issues they have dealing with vacants in the neighborhood,” Costello said. He added that residents also talked about neighborhood stabilization while he was there.
Costello was picked Sept. 23 by a committee selected by City Council President Jack Young. The committee, per council rules, was mostly made up of community members who live in the district. The selection of Costello took less than five minutes after four hours of interviews with 13 other candidates.
Critics accused Young of influencing the committee to pick Costello after the two met before the hearing. Lester Davis, Young’s spokesman, said Young did not influence the committee adding that Young met with four other candidates before the meeting.
Nine other candidates - Melanie Ambridge, Jon Kucskar, Rob LaPin, Arthur McGreevy, Harry Preston, Bill Romani, Greg Sileo, Benjamin Smith and Shannon Sullivan – called the nomination process ‘tainted’ in a letter requesting Costello’s name be returned so the committee can have a chance to consider all of the candidates.
Young rejected that request.
Costello plans to run for a full term in the next city election in 2016.
Young Wants New Process
Young said he did not like the current rules dictating what happens when an opening on the council takes place before Costello was sworn in.
“I prefer that we have a special election. That’s something I’m going to speak with the mayor about and also the board of elections,” he said.
Young added he followed the council rules which he helped revise along with Cole in 2011. He said the process worked.
Councilman Bill Henry, who also was critical of the current process, said there has to be a way to have special elections.
“I will contend that maybe we should stop being the ones who do the electing,” Henry said.