Hanover swears in Myneca Ojo as its first African-American mayor

Hanover Borough has sworn in its first African-American mayor — a woman who is the director of diversity at the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission and who was at the center of a recent discrimination complaint that gained national attention.

Borough council selected Myneca Ojo, 56, to fill the office recently vacated by Ben Adams, who moved away from the community. 

“I am going to be serving all the people,” Ojo said. “All that partisan (tension), Democrat and Republican, it has no place in local politics. I don’t want (being the first African American mayor) to be such a big deal that the work of the borough is not considered.”

Though she works in Harrisburg, she said, she has lived in Hanover for the past eight years because she enjoys the community and how much it has embraced her.

Born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma, she moved to Hanover when she started working for the Maryland Highway Administration in Baltimore.

As mayor, Ojo wants to focus on making sure the police have the resources they need to thrive, to develop a vibrant downtown, help create more affordable housing and address the opioid crises in Hanover.

Ojo was one of the five black women asked to leave the Grandview Golf Club for “playing too slow” in April. The Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission held a hearing to determine whether the women faced race and gender discrimination.

Jeanine Pranses, Hanover’s third-ward council member, said there were three reasons she nominated Ojo to be mayor. “Her professional history –  her resume is in diversity and inclusion. Second, that professional work was for the state of Pennsylvania, so she is well-versed in government. And third, the other applicants had been on council and we wanted to look forward rather than look to the past.”

The mayor is responsible for being the public face of Hanover. The police chief reports to the mayor and the mayor can cast a tie-breaking vote if council should be deadlocked, according to Pranses.

Council members considered Ojo and James Roth as candidates for the position at their Thursday meeting. Seven out of 10 council members voted for Ojo.

She is the second woman to be mayor in the borough. Margret Hormel was the first woman mayor, serving from 1993 to 2007. 

Ben Adams resigned at the council meeting last month because he moved out of the borough. Because Adams only served one year of his term, Ojo will serve as mayor through till the next election in 2019.

To run for mayor in the next election, interested parties must apply by May 2019.

This story comes to us through a partnership between WITF and The Hanover Evening Sun.