Saturday, July 14, 2007

Lancaster Councilmember resigns for health reasons

By Brian Allen of TODAY Newspapers

Lancaster TODAY

Lancaster TODAY is the premier source of community news for the Lancaster area

District 6 Councilwoman Kimberly Lankford has resigned her seat due to health reasons, and now the discussion on how to fill the position will begin.

Lankford's resignation became official as of the July 9 city council meeting, giving the city 120 days from July 10 to resolve the issue.

That could come through a special election or, since a uniform election date in November would fall within that 120 days, the seat could legally remain open until then.

Assistant City Manager Opal Mauldin-Robertson said since the council has just received the news of Lankford's resignation, it will discuss how to proceed at a later date.

Photo via rollingout.com

Councilmember Kimberly Lankford.

“I want to state for the record that it was a privilege to have served with Mrs. Lankford,” Mayor Joe Tillotson said. “I think she was an able representative for her district and served her constituents well.”

The rest of the council echoed those sentiments.

Councilman C.R. “Dick” Headen served with her on the 4A board and the council.

“Serving with her in both places has been an honor for me,” he said. “She represented us well, she has represented this city well and represented her constituents well.”

Councilwoman Carol Strain-Burk said Lankford always kept the big picture in mind.

“Kimberly worked very, very hard in her area and her heart was always with the community,” she said. “She thought broader than just her district. She did work for her district but she always looked at the overview of what it would do for the community.”

Tillotson said he would let Lankford know to tune in for the council meeting rebroadcast so she could hear the kind words of her colleagues.

During the public comment period, three residents of Inter Urban Road pleaded for some drainage relief.

They said the torrential rains of the past several weeks and the inadequate drainage in the area have caused them serious property damage.

David Solis said two 18 1/2-inch drain pipes service the area and during times like the past few weeks those pipes aren't sufficient.

“The way it's set up right now those pipes plus the water drainage from the surrounding land and what comes off the street will not fit in the one ditch line.”

District 4 Councilman James Daniels represents the area in question and said he and city staff are well aware of the problem. In fact, one of his constituents made him aware of the problem at 10 p.m. as their house was flooding.

“We had the city engineer out there, and I have talked to the city manager about that drainage,” he said.

Daniels said staff is continuing to work on the problem.

“I'm not an engineer,” he said. “If I was, I'd probably put a concrete street through there.” This drew some laughter as an earlier speaker had suggested that as a possible but probably not economical solution to the problem.

Tillotson told the citizens the council hasn't forgotten their problem.

“We can't promise you anything except to say that we'll have our engineers take another hard look at that and do everything in our power to give you some relief out there,” he said.

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