Episode Details

We welcome back Council President Emily Cole this episode for a great conversation on the realities of local governance in our rapidly growing city.

Cole, now roughly two and a half years into her first term, described a role full of rewards and demands where meeting preparation alone can range from several hours to well over a dozen depending on the agenda. That workload, she said, is necessary to meet the expectations of residents and appreciate the competing perspectives that inform council decisions. Her approach has emphasized direct engagement, including one-on-one meetings with residents and outreach to former council members to better understand past decisions.

Operating within Hilliard’s council-manager form of government, Cole outlined the balance between elected officials and administrative leadership. While council sets policy direction, the city manager handles day-to-day operations, creating both efficiencies and a learning curve for new members navigating how to advance initiatives. As an example, Cole pointed to her early focus on strengthening the city’s nonprofit ecosystem, an effort that led to the creation of a centralized resource network and culminated in the recent “One Hilliard” community resource fair aimed at improving access to services and civic participation.

We also touched on a series of local policy debates currently in motion. Cole described an active review of whether to return final authority over certain conditional use permits to the Planning and Zoning Commission, noting that recent data showed council had not altered any of those decisions over the past several years but vowing a thorough review.

On public safety and technology, Cole expressed support for Hilliard’s community-oriented policing model while acknowledging ongoing concerns around surveillance tools such as license plate reader systems. She indicated that community awareness and engagement on these technologies remain limited, even as their implications grow more complex. More broadly, she framed her own views on Hilliard’s technology ambitions and development investments through a “people-first” lens, stressing the need for safeguards in our growing city around privacy, mental health, and consumer protection.

The growing we do as a community will be central to Hilliard in the coming decades and we thank all members of council for their dedication to public service and the residents of our city.

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