Valley Grande has interim city clerk
Published 8:05 pm Tuesday, September 2, 2008
VALLEY GRANDE — The city council voted unanimously to appoint Diane Spikings as interim city clerk Tuesday.
The decision came days after Virginia Webb resigned the position.
Spikings is currently the office manager in the city’s public safety building.
The council made the move to ensure a qualified person handles Valley Grande’s business and legal matters.
“There are a lot of actions that have to be taken with respect to certifying different things like that, and Diane is available,” Mayor Tom Lee said. “This is an interim appointment. It is not a permanent appointment. Diane has no desire to be the clerk, by her own admission.”
Webb submitted her resignation to the city shortly after 12 p.m. on Friday.
In a statement she released later, she said she felt “the new administration will be better served by appointing a new city clerk who may be more in line with the goals and direction that this administration has for Valley Grande.”
For the candidates that ran in the Aug. 26 elections, very little changed in a week’s time.
The city council and mayor reviewed poll numbers from the elections, including four provisional ballots.
Three of those ballots were rejected by the Secretary of State’s office for reasons ranging from late registration to registration outside the police jurisdiction.
After unofficial results were announced a week ago, all successful candidates garnered the required count of 50 percent plus one vote to avoid a runoff.
Only one incumbent that ran did not retain a seat. Julie Drinkard lost the city council Place 1 spot to Marie Middlebrooks, 534 to 467 after the provisional vote was counted.
Steven Neighbors won the Place 4 seat with 516 votes, replacing Gene Middlebrooks, who did not seek re-election. In that race, Aubrey Smitherman had 325 votes, and Gary Crum had 159.