Wilmer appoints Jeff Steele as new mayor

by Staff of Wilmer Public Citizen

In an unusual move Thursday night, Jeff Steele was appointed Mayor of Wilmer to serve until the next election. No new council members were appointed, and by all accounts the City Secretary controversy was finally resolved.

Following the invocation by Eugene Lowe, the Wilmer City Council got busy and approved the minutes of the last meeting and resolved to pay the bills. This was immediately followed by Marlena Dyess nominating Jeff Steele as the new Mayor. Eugene Lowe moved to table the issue before the nominating motion was seconded, but the City Attorney advised that the nominating motion was already on the floor and the motion to table would be in order only if the nominating motion died for lack of a second. The motion was called and Mayor Steele was approved by the council. City Secretary Alice Holloway administered the oath of office and Mayor Steele ascended the dais. Upon taking the gavel, Mayor Steele spoke a few words of appreciation to the council and indicated his desire to bring the various factions (right and left) of the city together. The meeting recessed for five minutes before reconvening in executive session.

The executive session seemed quite lengthy with several matters to resolve including the separation agreement of former City Secretary Crystol Birdwell, which seems to have finally been resolved. Mayor Pro Tem Matias Leal excused himself from voting on the hiring of a new city administrator citing conflict of interest. Tiny Lange made a motion to keep the position vacant, which passed with unanimous approval.

A special use rodeo permit was deferred to the Planning and Zoning commission, marking the second time this agenda item had not been taken up by the city council. Readers may note that the P&Z commission has not met since the Xebec zoning and annexation.

Next, the engineering firm BWR presented a $90,000 proposal to prepare a comprehensive master plan for the city over the next eight months, with the assistance and oversight of a 15 to 20 member steering committee appointed by the city council. The measure passed unanimously after several questions from the audience regarding the process.

The lease-purchase agreement for a Ford F250 pickup for the Water Department was unanimously approved as the purchase had been authorized last June and the equipment was already in use.

New plumbing equipment for the Police Department holding cell was also approved.

No action was taken on the proposed contract for a city web site contractor nor was the adoption of a new business alarm systems ordinance, with City Secretary Alice Holloway citing advice of counsel on both those agenda items.

The meeting was adjourned at about 8:55PM.