CANFIELD, Ohio (WKBN) – A months-long search has finally come to an end. Wednesday night, Canfield City Council named a new city manager, and he’s one residents may be familiar with.

Canfield City Council has been waiting a long time for this moment.

“I’m so excited to have him lead this city,” said councilmember John Morvay.

Wednesday evening, council members unanimously recommended the appointment of a new city manager.

“We’ve went through such an intense process,” said Mayor Don Dragish, Jr.

David D’Apolito is the man now charged with leading Canfield forward.

Council’s recommendation signals an end to an exhaustive months-long process. It began with the resignation of former city manager Wade Calhoun in August 2022.

“There’s a lot of things that happen on the day to day, but then, there’s a lot of things that we want to happen here in Canfield. This is in the right direction of things that we’re looking to move forward and move Canfield forward,” Dragish, Jr. said.

D’Apolito has sat on the bench as judge of the Seventh District Court of Appeals since November 2018. He relieves Canfield Police Chief Charles Colucci, who held the role on an interim basis while council searched for Calhoun’s successor.

“By god, chief, you’ve done one heck of a job. I just want to thank [you] personally. I want to thank you from council for stepping up and doing that,” Morvay said.

City leaders wanted to leave no stone unturned during their search. They eventually opted to utilize a national search firm to narrow down their list of candidates.

“Through his long record of being in the position that he’s been in, that’s what we were looking for to run Canfield. We wanted that integrity, we wanted that loyalty, we wanted those things,” Dragish, Jr. said.

But after honing in on four names, in the end, one stood out the moment he entered his name into the race.

“A lot of people weren’t able to have his background dynamic. He meshes with Canfield so well and I think the people of Canfield are just going to love him,” Dragish, Jr. said.

D’Apolito will officially assume the role on Jan. 1.