Oberlin recognizes retiring council member Ray English

Come January, six of the seven members of Oberlin City Council will return to their seats at city hall following successful reelection campaigns. But Ray English will not be one of them. First elected in 2019, English opted to not run for reelection this year, and prior to his final Council meeting Monday night, members of city hall and the Oberlin community gathered to celebrate English's term. "Service on City Council asks a great deal of those who accept the call; long nights, hard decisions and lots of meetings," Oberlin Council President Eboni Johnson said in a statement that was read aloud by Vice President Michael McFarlin. "Throughout his time here, Ray has shown up with dedication, thoughtfulness and a genuine desire to make Oberlin better." In his time on Council, English oversaw policy work focused on key items such as affordable housing and social equity. "People may think I'm a little crazy when I say this, but I've enjoyed being on City Council," English said later at the close of Monday's meeting. "I do believe that good government is possible, and you just have to work to make it happen." In her statement, Johnson said English "vigorously advocated" policies focused on helping people. During Monday night's celebration, English spoke to those in attendance as to why serving in local government is important. He explained that before 2019, his interests were focused on national issues. "I worked a lot on national issues lobbying the U.S. Congress," English said. "It's hard to make Congress get things done. And sometimes, you can work on something and make progress, and then things go backward." But through the Oberlin community and as a part of its government, action happened. "At the local level, you can get things done," English said. "I've been very proud to be involved in our comprehensive planning process. We have a really good comprehensive plan." Earlier this year, English oversaw the ratification of the Oberlin Social Equity Plan, an item that he said he may be most proud of. Oberlin officials have stated that the plan offers guardrails and protections for residents in areas like housing, health care and education. "Oberlin started out with a utopian vision regarding race," English previously said. "It was not perfect, it was flawed in some ways. But we, as a community, fell backward on that." With the passage of the Oberlin Social Equity Plan, the momentum of progress can change, he said. "To me, it's a great step forward." While his time on Council has come with the successful passage of multiple pieces of legislation that he led, English has not always been in lockstep with other members of Oberlin City Hall. In 2022, English was formally censured following email correspondence with Oberlin Law Director Jon Clark and other members of Council, critiquing the work of Clark outside of an executive session, according to Chronicle archives. At the time, English apologized for the email messages between himself and Clark, calling them "unfortunate." Although he opposed the resolution and disagreed with the accusations leveled against him, English said at the time that he "made a mistake." "To me, this is a classic case of cascading misunderstandings that result from a poorly communicated email and subsequent exchanges," English said at the time. Council's choice to censure one of its own representatives was a rare move, one that then-Council President Bryan Burgess said was "unprecedented" and difficult to do. Regardless, on Monday night, English said that through his time, Council has become better at working together. "In the time that I've been on Council, it's gotten better; better at understanding roles, better at communicating and better at working together," English said. "So for me, that's a sign that you can make governments work. And having government that does work is a really important thing." Contact Garrett Looker at glooker@chroniclet.com.