Columbus City Councilmember Nancy Day-Achauer is accusing Mayor Andrew Ginther of using Barack Recreation Center as a “political prop” after it was damaged by a tornado in August.
"This could have been an example of good governance where elected officials came together to address the aftermath of a natural disaster,” Day-Achauer said at City Council’s Oct. 5 meeting. “Instead, the mayor has used it to attack council members and try to remake his image as a Rec and Parks hero.”
Day-Achauer is referring to interviews Ginther did with multiple news media on Sept. 30 outside of the Barack Recreation Center, where he pressured council to pass his 2026 capital budget proposal, which includes $5 million for renovating Barack. It’s one of multiple capital projects
he’s visited around the city in recent weeks to highlight capital spending.
Day-Achauer said Ginther did this despite knowing he signed an emergency order at the end of August authorizing the city to immediately begin working on repairing Barack and other Columbus Recreation and Parks locations that were damaged during the storms.
City Council is set to vote at the Oct. 5 meeting on $2.5 million to retroactively pay for that. It is possible that the city could later get reimbursement for some of the repairs from insurance or the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Franklin County is one of seven counties which have received federal disaster aid approval from FEMA due to 17 tornadoes statewide and other severe weather in August. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine requested disaster declaration for a total 23 counties; the other 16 counties remain under review.
“One must wonder why he doesn’t want us to take a close look,” Day-Achauer said of Ginther. “Conflating tonight’s legislation on remediation and mitigation at several facilities with the 2026 capital budget makes no sense ... The mayor should do better than use a natural disaster to play political games.”
Day-Achauer said City Council will not be intimidated into doing the mayor’s bidding.
"This is the time for action and investment. This is not a time to go back and forth about different posturing and politics," Ginther previously told The Dispatch. "I'm pushing council to act as quickly as possible to pass the capital budget."
A spokesperson for Ginther did not immediately respond to a text seeking comment about Day-Achauer's remarks at the council meeting.
Councilmembers Lourde Barroso de Padilla and Melissa Green echoed Day-Achauer's remarks.
"It just makes it confusing when we're not factual about where dollars go," Barroso de Padilla said.
Green said the mayor's remarks were disappointing.
"It was disingenuous," Green said. "It was misleading, as it was intended to be."
Day-Achauer, who chairs the Neighborhoods, Recreation, & Parks Committee, previously criticized Ginther when he negotiated the lease of McCoy Park to wealthy investors in a professional women’s soccer franchise training facility without public input. City Council passed the deal with investors in the franchise by a 5-3 vote with Day-Achauer voting in the minority against it.
Ginther said later he could have done more to communicate with the public on the McCoy Park deal. Ginther's proposed capital budget includes $13.3 million for new parks on Columbus' Southwest Sidein an effort to replace McCoy Park.
Government and politics reporter Jordan Laird can be reached at jlaird@dispatch.com. Follow her on X, Instagram and Bluesky at @LairdWrites.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Councilmembers say mayor playing politics over damaged rec center
