Pepper Pike voters elect four fresh faces to City Council, say goodbye to three incumbents

PEPPER PIKE, Ohio -- City Council will look a whole lot different when it convenes for its first meeting of 2026 on Jan. 13.

At that meeting, the seven-member representative body will have four new members, as voters on Nov. 4 elected second-time candidate Sandip Mody, and first-time office seekers Robert Rice, John Eric Schmidt and Alyssa Swords into office.

Not returning will be current Councilwomen Melanie Weltman, Cathy Hwang and Emmy Zatroch, who failed to place among the top four vote-getters.

Also not returning is 16-year Councilman Scott Newell, who is retiring from City Council.

Election Day was a good one for Mayor Richard Bain, who backed all four of the soon-to-be council members. Bain, it can be recalled, took a very different position than the departing Weltman, Zatroch a