Donald Culliver

Donald Culliver (born November 1951) was sworn to office on December 1, 2007 after being elected to serve by the people of Mansfield, Ohio on November 6, 2007. He was the first African-American in history to be elected Mayor of Mansfield.^[1]

Political life

His 2007 run for mayor was his first run for public office. He won the Mansfield mayoral election with 41% of votes with a margin of 4,862, defeating at large city council Doug Versaw (R) who received 32% of votes with a margin of 3,820 and William Anliker (Unindorsed R) who received 27% of votes with a margin of 3,159.^[2]

On February 25, 2008, Culliver endorsed Illinois Senator Barack Obama for president, saying, "If we are going to make a better future for America, we need a leader who isn't invested in the political food fights of the past."^[3]

On November 8, 2011, Culliver was succeeded in the Mansfield mayoral election by Timothy Theaker, the first Republican to be elected by the people of Mansfield, Ohio to serve as mayor since Edward Meehan, who served as mayor of Mansfield from 1981 to 1991.^[4]

Community & Education

Mayor Culliver is well known around the community for his work in education and as a mentor to the youth of Mansfield. While campaigning for office in 2007, Mayor Culliver set a clear goal to get the community involved in our education system to help create a positive and progressive learning environment.^[5]

In 2008, Mayor Culliver helped build bridges between the government, education community and business community by forming several partnerships with local community members to help advance Mansfield to the next level together. Out of those partnerships, education has been a key focus to the Mayor and in November 2008, he created the Mayor's Education Task Force, a volunteer community organization dedicated towards getting the community involved in our local education system. The Mayor's influence in the community has reached incredible numbers with his initiative gaining 57 volunteers in five months by August 25, 2009 and community partners nationwide.^[6]

Economic Management

While the economic recession was officially declared in December 2007, it did not stop the freshman Mayor from doing whatever it took to gain opportunity for his city.^[7] Mayor Culliver has been committed towards building partnerships throughout the state and nation and already includes the Ohio General Assembly, Governors Office and the United States Congress. Early 2009, Mayor Culliver and members of his administration traveled to Washington to work with several members of the United States House of Representatives, Senate and the Executive Office to work on funding opportunities for the City of Mansfield. Mayor Culliver was able to generate more than 3 million dollars in funding for Mansfield that helped save several safety service positions. However, because of the global economic shift, he was not able to secure positions for everyone who lost employment.

In 2009, Mayor Culliver partnered with local manufacturers, the business community, State Representative and House Majority Whip Jay Goyal, Commissioner Gary Utt, Governor Ted Strickland and Senator Sherrod Brown in the Mansfield Makes Sense for the New GM campaign towards keeping the local General Motors plant open.^[8] However, efforts were unsuccessful as the community received the final plan to close from GM Headquarters on July 31, 2009.^[9]

Family and Personal life

Mayor Culliver is a graduate of Malabar High School and a longtime resident and member of the Mansfield community, where he is also a husband, father and grandfather. Mayor Culliver has been active in the community of Mansfield for many years with a 20-year public service record as a city councilman and 35 years experience as a licensed journeyman at PPG Industries.^[10]

References

• Smith, Rodger. "Mayor Culliver Visits OSU" (PDF). Accent. The Ohio State University. Retrieved September 17, 2009. 
• Caudill, Mark (May 15, 2009). "Goyal tours Malabar, learns of education task force". State Representative Jay Goyal. Mansfield News Journal. p. 1. Retrieved September 15, 2009. 
• "Education Task Force Prepares for the School Year". WMFD. North Central Ohio News. August 14, 2009. p. 1. Retrieved September 15, 2009. 
• http://www.tygerpride.com/cf_news/view.cfm?newsid=206 "New School Year Off to a Good Start: Mansfield Public City School Report"
• SHILLING, ERIK (August 26, 2009). "New Malabar head: 'Failure is not an option'". Mansfield News Journal. The News Journal. p. 1. Archived from the original on August 29, 2009. Retrieved September 15, 2009. 
• Isidore, Chris (December 1, 2008). "Its official: U.S. in recession since Dec 07". CNN MONEY. CNN. Retrieved September 17, 2009. 
• "Mansfield Makes Sense for the New GM". Mansfield Makes Sense. Mansfield Makes Sense. Retrieved September 17, 2009. 
• Coles, Bridgitte. "The State of the City of Mansfield". WMFD. North Central Ohio. Retrieved September 17, 2009. 

Notes

External links

• Cumberland Mayor official government website