by LIZ BEAVERS
Tribune Managing Editor
PIEDMONT — Although they already have two letters from town residents expressing interest in serving on the Piedmont Town Council, the four remaining council members have postponed the appointment of a mayor and council members until their next meeting.
When Mayor Ebbie Gilmore died on July 21, and Streets Commissioner Jason Shears resigned a day later, it left the officials with two apparent choices — appoint Finance Commissioner Freda Fisher as mayor and appoint a new finance commissioner and streets commissioner, or appoint someone else as mayor, keep Fisher as finance commissioner, and appoint a streets commissioner.
Of course, there could be a third choice, with one of the remaining commissioners — Bob Fike, Brian Redman and Chuck Dawson — could be appointed as mayor, again leaving two vacancies to be filled on the council.
Wednesday, Fisher, who has been acting as interim mayor since a gravely ill Gilmore took a turn for the worse in June, said they had received two letters of interest in the council positions — one from Aaron Taylor, who was present at the meeting, and one from former councilman Robbie Robertson, who was not present.
Taylor, who is employed as business office administrator for
Heartland of Keyser, told the officials he was “interested in what I can help do for Piedmont ... to help move the city along.”
Housing Commissioner Bob Fike said, should Fisher be appointed as mayor, the position of finance commissioner would be well-fitted to Taylor's experience.
He warned Taylor, however, that the position “would consume a lot of your time. As small as Piedmont is, there's still a lot to do,” he said.
“Commissioner Racco (who died in June) was here every day,” he added. “It's a huge responsibility.”
With that said, however, Fike added that he felt someone young like Taylor is needed on the council.
“I think we need young people to come in with ideas and maybe try to jump start us a little bit,” he said.
“I was happy to see your face come in that door tonight.”
Fisher also presented the council with a letter from Robertson, who expressed his interest in the streets commissioner position vacated by Shears.
“I had heard several other names mentioned as being interested, but no one called or showed up,” she said.
Town Clerk Betsy Rice had issued a statement following Shears' resignation that the town officials were looking for anyone interested in serving the city to submit a letter of interest prior to Wednesday's meeting.
The officials said Wednesday that they will still accept letters of interest.
“We're not going to make a decision tonight,” Fike said. “I don't want to make any rash judgements.”
Commissioner Dawson agreed, saying he didn't “want to jump into anything too quickly.”
And when Fisher suggested the officials should wait until Commissioner Brian Redman, who was running late Wednesday, arrived before they appointed a mayor, Fike and Dawson also said they wanted to wait until the next meeting for that decision, as well.
“You're acting mayor now, that's okay,” Dawson told Fisher.
Whomever is appointed mayor will serve in that position until the town's next regular election, which is in 2011. At that time, the voters will choose from whomever declares himself or herself a candidate.
Whomever is appointed to the vacant council seats will also serve until the next election, creating the situation where voters next year will be choosing a mayor and four out of five council members.
The next regularly scheduled council meeting is Wednesday, Aug. 11, at 6 p.m.
