Joe Schember

Schember served on City Council for 6 years and was appointed as Chairman of the Finance Committee in 2007. During his tenure, he oversaw the city of Erie move from a bleak financial state of a $12.7 million deficit in the General Fund in late 2005 to a $5 million surplus by 2012.[6] In 2009 and in 2010, the City Council appointed Schember to be President of the City Council.[7]

During the Citizens To Be Heard segment of the City Council Meetings, a local activist named Randy Barnes, who was president of an environmental group called Keep Erie's Environment Protected (K.E.E.P.),[8] would continually lodge a conflict of interest complaint against Schember because he had employment with PNC Bank which was doing business with the city of Erie.[9] In response to Randy Barnes complaints that he would lodge at each City Council meeting, Schember resigned May 8, 2012 with a letter that stated that he was "troubled by the lack of civility and unprofessionalism that has infected the Citizens To Be Heard segment of City Council Meetings."[9]

Out of nine candidates running in the primary race for Mayor, two remained in the run-up to the election: The Democrat Joe Schember and Republican John Persinger. Erie is a city where Democrats outnumber Republicans over 2 to 1 yet John Persinger ran a strong campaign, eventually garnering 47% of the popular vote. Persinger emphasized eliminating blight with a campaign promise of "1,000 in 1,000 Days" initiative to remove 1,000 blightened properties in his first 1,000 days in office.[10] He emphasized the role of broken windows theory, and said that if Erie is to prosper, Erie would need to address blight quickly.[11] Schember thought that was too much and was not realistic and he wanted to address 50 to 100 blighted properties in his first year.[12]

Schember has initiated many changes to the mayoral governance of Erie since being elected into office. He wants to upgrade the technology of Erie, redesign the city of Erie's website, and hire a new digital media coordinator to focus on getting the city up to date with social media which under Sinnott's long mayoralty it lagged behind.[13] Schember hired Erie's first full-time grant writer, Abby Skinner, to work on helping Erie access grant funding from the local, state and federal level. One of Schember's priorities is Erie Refocused, which is part of Erie's Comprehensive Plan to improve the city's economy and society. Skinner will focus on writing grants that will help Erie Refocused move forward.[14]