The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Local News

November 10, 2008

Oak Hill council decides on new mayor

Matthew Hill

OAK HILL — The “Pride of the Plateau” will have a new mayor come Dec. 1.

Oak Hill city council members voted unanimously Monday evening to name councilperson-at-large Anna Lou Holt as mayor. Mayor Bill Hannabass, who resigned as mayor at council’s Oct. 13 meeting, will become Oak Hill’s city manager when Tom Oxley leaves that post Dec. 31.

Oxley tendered his letter of resignation as city manager in September. Hannabass won the June 2007 mayoral election unopposed. Hannabass has previously served as a council member and a councilman-at-large.

Councilman Jeff Atha made the motion for Holt’s nomination as mayor, and Bruce Coleman seconded the idea.

As Oxley explained it earlier Monday, Hannabass will become a city employee Dec. 1, working alongside Oxley in an administrative position until the end of December.

The only question left unanswered Monday was how to fill Holt’s shoes as councilperson-at-large. One idea was proffered to council in a letter dated Nov. 10 by former council member and mayor Barbara Hickman-Toombs.

“I respectfully request consideration to the office of councilperson-at-large with the coming departure of Mrs. Holt from that position,” Hickman-Toombs wrote.

“As you will recall, I held the elected position of councilperson-at-large for 20 years and the mayor’s position for two four-year terms afterward. I still hold great interest in our city’s government and believe I am qualified to act in the best interest of our city and its citizens,” she added.

Hickman-Toombs applauded when council members rendered their unanimous decision to tap Holt as the new mayor of their city. No decision was made on the upcoming councilperson-at-large vacancy.

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In other business, council members:

- Voted 7-0 to approve the second reading of a sanitary sewer service ordinance that would effectively relieve the city from providing sewer service to anyone outside the corporation limits of Oak Hill.

The sanitary board adopted the policy in August, said Oxley, and city council wanted to give the policy more “teeth” via Monday’s vote. The first reading was passed last month.

- Observed a moment of silence at the request of Hannabass in honor of America’s veterans on the eve of Veterans Day. To commemorate the occasion, the tables at which council members sit were festooned with small American flags.

— E-mail:

mhill@register-herald.com

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