Hanover swears in Myneca Ojo as its first African-American mayor
Myneca Ojo is sworn in as Hanover’s mayor at the borough council meeting on Oct. 24. (Sophie Kaplan/The Evening Sun)
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.
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