In Ohio, Soil and Water Conservation Districts are administered by a board of five supervisors. Supervisors are elected to three-year terms in public elections conducted by the Ohio Soil and Water Conservation Commission. Supervisors volunteer their time, energy and expertise. Our Board of Supervisors’ public election will be open for absentee ballot submission, and in-office voting weekdays 8:30am-4:30pm August 16 until September 14, 2023.
The Board of Supervisors’ Election is held in conjunction with our Annual Meeting.
Franklin County residents 18 years or older can cast an absentee ballot, or vote in-person at our office from August 16 until September 14, 2023.
- Contact us with your name and mailing address to request an absentee ballot.
- Vote in-person at our office weekdays 8:30am-4:30pm August 16 until September 14, 2023.
Below are the three candidates running for two open seats.
Kim Landsbergen
Kim Landsbergen is an ecosystem scientist, an educator, and an avid volunteer for the environment. An applied environmental scientist for over 25 years, Kim has over 10 years of experience serving the Franklin County Soil Water Conservation District: she volunteered as an Associate Board Member for FSWCD for over a decade, and joined the Board of Supervisors in Nov 2021. Kim is a Certified Senior Ecologist with the Ecological Society of America, which is the largest ecological professional organization in the world. She earned her M.S. from the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University, a Ph.D. in Forest Ecosystem Analysis from the University of Washington’s School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, and a post-doctoral climate change fellowship at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. In the last twenty years, Kim has worked on applied research on Ohio’s invasive species, forest ecology, soils, and urban ecology. Her interests in stormwater management, green infrastructure, ecosystem restoration and increasing urban forest canopies intersect with the mission of the FSWCD. A Tennesseean at heart, Kim moved to Ohio in 2001, and has been a resident of Franklin County for 15 years. In 2017, Kim was appointed to the Tree Commission for the Parks and Forestry Department of Upper Arlington, where she resides with her family. For the last nine years Kim has worked as an Associate Professor of Environmental Science at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio.
Erin Miller
Erin Miller is the Assistant Vice President of Energy Policy and Sustainability for American Municipal Power (AMP). Erin has been with AMP since 2017. In this role, she spearheads the organization’s sustainability programs, manages the member-led Focus Forward initiative and associated electric vehicle sub-group, manages the organization’s grant services program, and tracks renewable energy policies at the state and federal level.
Previously, Miller served as the Environmental Steward with the City of Columbus for nearly eight years. In that role, she managed programs such as the Branch Out Columbus tree initiative, the GreenSpot program, and RecyColumbus. She has also occupied various positions with the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC), including Director of the Center for Energy and Environment as well as Greenways Program Manager, where she coordinated with various organizations and agencies to develop and implement the Greenways Program and Greenways: A Plan for Franklin County. Prior to MORPC, Erin served as the Executive Director of the Friends of the Lower Olentangy Watershed (FLOW).
She holds a bachelor’s degree in ecology and environmental sciences from Otterbein University, has completed the Ohio Environmental Leaders Institute at the Ohio State University and also has attained the designation of LEED® Green Associate™ from Green Business Certification Inc.
Miller currently serves on the American Public Power Association Smart Energy Provider Panel; the Smart Electric Power Alliance Program Advisory Committee; and the Large Public Power Council Emerging Trends Task Force.
Leigh Anne Ward
Leigh Anne received dual degrees from Capital University in 2000, a BA in art therapy and a BSW in social work with a focus on children and families. She is an advocate of using animal assisted therapy and horticultural therapy with children and families, especially those impacted by trauma and domestic violence. She developed a psychological research project for the Buckeye Ranch which was presented at the 2000 North American Riders for the Handicapped Association Conference. As a Linden resident, Leigh Anne became a community advocate in 2013, and co-founded the North Linden Community Watch and The Miracle Garden in 2014 to help address the need for food security and sustainability in at-risk communities. As Director of The Miracle Garden, she taught gardening in the Smart 2.0 Summer Program at the Millennium School through the Afrocentric Personal Development Shop. Also in 2014, she became a Clark County Master Gardener, helping with their seed trial plots and with the Farm Science Review. For the past 7 years she has been the Coordinator for the Community Cleanup Crew, a sentencing alternative for the Franklin County Municipal Court, and managed the Ohio EPA Litter Management Grant which provided supplemental funding for the program. With the support of the grant, she focused on removing and recycling illegally dumped tires from public property throughout Franklin County. Leigh Anne was able to bring the Community Cleanup Crew to support cleanup and beautification projects with area commissions, block watches, civic associations, and environmental organizations such as the Friends of the Lower Olentangy Watershed, the Friends of the Alum Creek and its Tributaries, the Franklin Soil and Water Conservation District, Columbus Recreation and Parks, Metro Parks, and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Prior to that she conducted product research for Kurtz Brothers and worked as a Landscape Enhancement Specialist.