Search for new mayor continues
LEADINGTON – It appears the position of Leadington mayor is going to remain vacant for at least a while longer.
Mayor Pro Tem Steven Kinsey informed the city’s board of aldermen at its Tuesday night meeting that his attempts to find a person willing to finish the term of former Mayor Troy Dickens had so far been fruitless.
“I’m not having any luck in appointing a mayor,” Kinsey said. “I haven’t had anybody come forward. I’ve talked to a couple of people. I guess we’re going to set like we are now. I’m just going to keep going. We’re going to keep looking. We’ve got a lot of citizens here tonight. Maybe they could talk to people in town and see if they’d like to get interested in the city. Of course they have to be a resident for a year and over 25 years old.”
Kinsey then expressed his belief that there needs to be greater participation in city government by Leadington residents.
“It’s important we get some more of our citizens involved. There’s not many of us who do it and I’d like to see some new blood coming in. I have refiled for alderman. I’m going to be going back to it, but the way it’s set up we have to maintain the mayor’s spot, too. There’s a bulk of us here that know the city and I would think we have some citizens who’d like to get involved if we could figure out who they were and talk to them a little bit. I think once they got in, they’d enjoy it. It’s just my opinion. So, we’re going to continue on as we are unless somebody has a better idea. I think we have things headed in the right direction.”
Dickens unfinished term continues until the April 2015 election — a year-and-a-half away. He resigned last month after a disagreement with the board of aldermen over the handling of a personnel issue involving former City Clerk Cindy Leimkuehler. She was terminated from her position four days after Dickens submitted his resignation as mayor.
An attorney consulted by the board about the process of filling the mayoral vacancy said the city could not add the spot to the upcoming municipal election in April.
Also at Tuesday’s meeting, the board approved payment of a $3,238.70 bill from Maloney, Wright & Robbins for additional accounting work it did over and above performing the annual city audit at a cost of $7,500.
Prior to open session, M,W&R’s Lori Crump met with the board to go over the bill and answer any questions the aldermen might have about it. Before taking the vote, Kinsey told board members he felt satisfied about paying the bill after hearing from Crump.
At the meeting, the board also covered a few other matters that included approving direct deposit of pay for city employees, renewing two city certificates of deposit for a period of 18 months and transferring money from the general fund into the street department budget.
Just prior to the end of the meeting, Police Chief Rick Pogue informed the board that the city had received a Jag grant it had recently requested through the Department of Public Safety. He said flashlights for the department purchased through the grant had already been received and new radios for city squad cars were expected to arrive soon.
“I’m not having any luck in appointing a mayor. I haven’t had anybody come forward.” — Mayor Pro Tem Steve Kinsey
Mayor Pro Tem Steve Kinsey, center, tells Leadington Alderman Debbi Matthews, left, and Alderman Casie Braddy, on right, that his search for a mayor to replace Troy Dickens, who resigned the position in December, has so far been unsuccessful. He suggested that they and other citizens present at the meeting should talk to city residents who might be interested in filling in as mayor until the April 2015 election.
Kevin Jenkins is a reporter for the Daily Journal and can be reached at 573-518-3614 or kjenkins@dailyjournalonline.com
