Residents urge Roanoke City Council to appoint Evelyn Powers to vacant seat

Dozens of residents urged Roanoke City Council on Feb. 3 to appoint Evelyn Powers to a vacant council seat, saying her long service in city government and the votes she received in November make her the logical choice.

Supporters, speaking during the meeting's public comment period, emphasized Powers's decades of municipal experience and argued the council should respect voters' November results. "She brings with her financial and budgetary expertise," said Karen Farrell, a Roanoke resident who added that Powers received 13,732 votes and finished fourth in the election. David Harrison, another resident, told council, "Evelyn Powers will ask questions to assure council has a factual basis for [its] decisions," arguing that her budgeting experience would help the city regain citizens' trust.

The push for Powers was the dominant theme of public comment. Speakers who identified themselves as neighborhood leaders, business owners and longtime residents described Powers's 43 years with city government and 20 years as city treasurer, and said she routinely returned unspent funds and explained budgets to the public. Kristen Segelke, who said she had worked with Powers in the treasurer's office, noted that Powers "earned 13,750 votes and was a close fourth in the elections," and urged the council to appoint her. Several speakers referenced a 2016 council precedent of appointing a candidate who had participated in the recent election.

Mayor Sherman Cobb told the audience that council had interviewed three applicants earlier in the day for the unexpired term, which the mayor said ends Dec. 31, 2026. Some speakers who supported other finalists also addressed the council: David Howell and others spoke in favor of Rabbi Cathy Cohn; supporters of Trish White Boyd also appeared, noting her prior service on council and community ties. But the majority of those who signed up and spoke during the public comment period urged council to select Powers on the basis of experience and the number of votes she received in the November election.

Council did not record a final appointment vote on the council vacancy in the portions of the transcript reviewed for this article. The meeting materials noted that the interviews of the three applicants were livestreamed and that the city clerk's office will follow up on individual concerns raised during public comment, such as parking enforcement questions raised by one speaker.

The discussion came ahead of other formal items on the agenda. Council members did not debate the appointment at length during the public comment segment; the issues raised by speakers largely focused on precedent, experience and trust-building with constituents. Several residents asked the council to treat the vacancy as an opportunity to restore public confidence by honoring apparent voter preference from the November election.