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Friday, February 17, 2012

Charlann Wombles appointed to city council

The Midway City Council unanimously appointed former council member Charlann Wombles to a council vacancy this morning. Wombles will fill the 10½ months remaining in the term of Becky Moore, a former mayor who was elected to the council in 2010 and resigned last momth.

The council chose from among 10 applicants, five of whom are running for council seats in the November election, and expressed its pleasure at their number and quality. "I was really impressed with some of the resumes . . . and the backgrounds of a lot of the people who are running," Council Member Aaron Hamilton said.

Council Member Sharon Turner, the mayor pro tem, said the council agreed in its private discussion of the applicants that they should be encouraged to remain active in city affairs, and that the applicants who are not successful in their campaigns should consider running again in two years. Other members indicated their agreement. "We have a lot of great people in Midway," Council Member Doris Leigh said.

Wombles is not running in the election and was not among the early applicants for the position. She said in an interview that she applied because "I'm just a server when it comes to this community," thought "there wouldn't be a lot of education" necessary for a former member, and City Clerk Phyllis Hudson told her when she asked that no other former members had applied.

"There have been so many delays about so many different issues, I just wanted to move things along," Wombles said. She served on the council from 2005 through 2010 and later filled an unexpired term as the city's representative on the Woodford County Economic Development Authority.

The council discussed the applicants in a closed session, allowed by state law in such cases. As it prepared to start the private discussion, Council Member Dan Roller asked if Mayor Tom Bozarth would have to leave or if he would voluntarily excuse himself, since the appointment was by law a council decision. Bozarth said he had planned to remain only to explain the appointment process. He left the closed session after a few minutes. Upon return to open session, Roller made the motion to appoint Wombles and all agreed. The meeting took 25 minutes.

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