Del City Councilman resigns to take city post
Kyle Gandy speaks during a Del City City Council meeting. Photo by Jeff Harrison
By Lea Terry
Midwest City Beacon
After three years representing Ward 4 on the Del City City Council, Kyle Gandy is using this experience to take on another goal: helping to guide the city into the future as its new Director of
Economic Development. Gandy resigned his position on the council to take the job, and the city council officially accepted his resignation at its Nov. 6 meeting.
Gandy said while most people know him as a nurse, which he became in 2017, prior to that he spent 15 years in marketing and communications roles, working for organizations including the Oklahoman, Oklahoma Today, and the Kirkpatrick Foundation, where he worked at ArtDesk magazine.
“Marketing and journalism was my longest career so this is in my wheelhouse,” Gandy said. “This is a way to continue my civic involvement.”
As a fourth-generation Del City resident whose grandfather has long been active in civic involvement, Gandy found himself at a point where he had the ability to dedicate time to civic duties and decided to become involved in local government. He was appointed to the council in October 2020 to fill the vacant Ward 4 seat, and then ran successfully in 2021 and won re-election to the position.
The city’s process for filling a city council vacancy is for the remaining members of the council to vote to appoint a replacement until the next general election. This typically occurs within 60 days of the vacancy. There’s no definite timeline for this vote yet, but it is expected to appear on the council’s agenda within the next couple of meetings, according to City Clerk Melissa Jones.
During his time on the council, Gandy said he’s particularly proud of the progress made on enhancing Eagle Lake, and on the creation of a new comprehensive 20-year plan for the city, which Gandy said required a great deal of research and study to help craft a plan to help the city grow and transform.
As far as his future goals for the city now that he’ll be leading the economic development side of things, he said there are “too many to list,” but that he wants to help bring the city into a better place financially and economically. He said his time on the council seeing economic development projects in motion has provided him a foundation to now oversee this type of development himself. He said his one-on-one involvement with his ward also gives him an advantage.
“I’m uniquely prepared because I have those relationships with the people in my ward, and with my neighbors,” Gandy said.
