Councilmember Emmanuel V. Remy Bio
Councilmember Emmanuel V. Remy has served the residents of Columbus on City Council since January 8, 2018. He is Chair of the Economic Development, Environment, and Administration Committees.
During his tenure on Council, Emmanuel has worked to meet and better understand the needs of each neighborhood in Columbus. Under his direction, the City has installed more sidewalks around schools to assure safe routes to school, created programs to combat illegal dumping and tackle litter head-on, and spearheaded the creation of the Columbus Police Mobile App to provide Columbus residents a community engagement tool for a safer Columbus.
As Chair of the Environment Committee, Emmanuel created the Cleaner Columbus Initiative in 2019, designed to promote educational opportunities and public engagement to combat litter, promote recycling, and stop illegal dumping. In November 2020, the Cleaner Columbus Employment Program pilot using CARES Act funding launched with great success. In just three weeks, this program temporarily employed residents at $15 an hour to clean up litter in various neighborhoods. For 2021 Councilmember Remy has made a commitment of hosting at least two (2) rounds of this program.
In 2021, Emmanuel is leading the Council Residential Districting Commission (CRDC) effort on behalf of Council. In 2018, the voters passed a charter amendment to add 2 additional councilmembers and divide the city into 9 districts that will provide representation by place. As of April 2021, the five-member commission is seated and will begin the process to draw the maps and engage the public for feedback as this new system is designed for the City of Columbus.
Prior to joining Council, Emmanuel spent the past 6 years as the president of the Northland Community Council (NCC). With over 130,000 residents covering 25 square miles of the city of Columbus, Northland represents a diverse mix of population that reflects the greater City as a whole.
As president of the NCC, Emmanuel worked with Northland’s police liaisons, zone attorney, environmental judge and other city and state entities to close down five crime-ridden hotels by having them declared a nuisance. This success led to Emmanuel advocating for licensing requirements to help shutdown “problem” hotels in other parts of the City. Currently, crime in the neighborhoods surrounding these hotels has gone down more than 50%. This policy is now being studied across the nation as a model for other cities to help combat problem hotels and motels.
In 2015, Emmanuel also spent a great deal of time working on the redevelopment of the Morse Road corridor and the reauthorization of the Morse Road Special Improvement District (SID).
Emmanuel works as a Realtor by trade, specializing in the residential market to help buyers realize their dreams. Emmanuel is married to his wife, Liz who is a Columbus City Schools teacher and serves as her school’s current Columbus Education Association (CEA) representative. They have three children enrolled in Columbus City Schools.
Emmanuel is a dedicated public servant and committed to uplifting neighborhoods and residents throughout the Columbus community.