Archive for January, 2008

Council Set to Fill Open Seat

Published by David Futcher on January 27, 2008 under General

The council will meet on Tuesday, January 29 to select a member to fill the council position vacant since Don Gregory’s resignation on December 31. Residents of the south ward were invited to apply for the position through January 25, and five took the opportunity to express their interest in the seat. Those five are Bob Smith, Stephanie Sparks, Leon Wheeldon, Rick Roberson and Edward Schamel. I haven’t had the opportunity to review the applications, so I don’t have all the information on each candidate, but I’m certain we will find a strong candidate to fill the vacancy.

If you’re interested in finding out more about the applicants, please join us in the council chambers on Tuesday night at 7:00. Councilmembers will interview the interested parties, and we’ll likely make our appointment before concluding the meeting.

Council Elects New Mayor

Published by David Futcher on January 4, 2008 under General

David Futcher & John Karnofski
David Futcher & John Karnofski

During our January 2 meeting, the council elected a new mayor and deputy mayor to serve the next two years. I was honored to be selected by my fellow councilmembers as their choice for mayor, and John Karnofski was unanimously selected as the deputy mayor, to serve in case I were to miss a meeting. Seeing as I haven’t missed any since joining the council, John looks to have a pretty easy path ahead of him!

Because our city uses the council-manager form of government, the additional responsibilities of being mayor are mostly chairing the council meetings and representing the city in various inter-governmental relationships. All of the administrative responsibilities are vested in the city’s manager, with the council, including the mayor, responsible for legislative, policy and budgetary decisions.

One area I hope to emphasize is continuing to improve communication between the council and citizens. This blog is just a start, and I will encourage fellow council members to continue the town hall meetings we’ve done the last year or two. I’ve also spoken with KLTV about possibly starting a live show that would give citizens a chance to call in and discuss questions with the mayor.