TOLEDO, Ohio — Katie Moline emerges victorious as the winner of the only Toledo City Council seat open this November.
In the unofficial Luca County results released Wednesday morning, Moline snagged 60% of the votes over Tony Dia, father of fallen TPD officer Anthony Dia.
Moline will serve out the rest of Sandy Spang's term. Moline took over for Spang in January when Spang took a job in the mayor's administration.
Prior to the race being called, Tony Dia said, "No matter who wins we are all friends, Americans, and we need to respect whoever wins."
"I've been able to write legislation to make sure we got our new police class, to make sure we had our grass cutting program for blighted areas and to also pass some ethics reforms. And so, I want to be able to continue the work I've started," Council member Katie Moline said.
Moline believes her experience in finance will help a city facing a budget shortfall.
"As a way of background, I am a Certified Public Accountant licensed in Ohio, that gives me an incredible experience and knowledge of the finances of our city government," Moline explained. "Which gives me the ability to provide really good oversight and ask really good questions, and hopefully act in a way that's always transparent and accountable to the tax dollars that the citizens entrust in their government to spend wisely."
Moline says this past year inspired her to pursue getting formally elected to council. When our reporter Emma Henderson asked her about the recent news about opponent Tony Dia shooting and killing a teenager when he was 16, Moline offered a response emphasizing a focus on her own values.
"I've really tried to focus on my campaign and be positive and talk about what I can bring to the table," Moline said.
We got Dia's reaction for the first time on camera since the news of his juvenile conviction broke last Friday.
"I've had to live with that my entire life. It was in self-defense but again, I'm not going to get into the details. And as I get older, it makes it even harder for me, because now at 50 I look back, he was a 17-year-old child," Dia said.
Dia added that he thinks it was inappropriate for something like that to be dug up from when he was a minor.
He is now running on a platform of more funding and safety for the Toledo Police Department, following the shooting death of his son Officer Anthony Dia. The Toledo Police Patrolman's Association has endorsed his campaign.
"I just felt I needed to give back. I needed to do something to give back," Dia said.
He said he wasn't expecting the race to be this intense, but believes that his history as a businessman can be useful on council when delegations are necessary.
"If I need a piece of equipment, I don't make that decision on my own, I go to my employees who are in the trenches, that are there and know what's going on and I ask them 'hey, is this worth it?'" Dia explained.
FULL INTERVIEWS:
Katie Moline
Tony Dia