City council considers candidates for vacancy

The Clarendon City Council heard from eight citizens interested in filling the seat of the late Tommy Hill during their regular meeting last Thursday, July 10.

Last week, City Administrator Brian Barboza said 11 people had expressed an interest in the position. Those were Bob Weiss, Tonya Lindsey, Ashleigh Sherel, Christopher Topliff, Pharabie Shadle, former alderman Eulaine McIntosh, Cydney D’Costa, Ashlee Wortham, Jimmie Adams, Ralph Graves, and Christopher Woodcook.

Barboza said he thought some of those may have decided they were not interested in the position, but eight did attend and were invited to address the council. Those were Weiss, McIntosh, Graves, Lindsey, Topliff, Adams, Shadle, and D’Costa.

In public comments at the opening of the meeting, Howardwick Mayor Johnny Floyd urged the council to think about Hill when considering his replacement to appoint someone with vision and ambition for the city. Sara SoRelle also addressed the council and spoke in favor of former alderman McIntosh.

Aldermen wanted to take their time to review the qualifications and letters of those interested. The council was scheduled to meet in closed session to appoint someone to the Hill’s seat as the Enterprise was going to press Tuesday evening, July 15.

See Facebook.com/TheEnterprise and ClarendonLive.com for updates on action taken Tuesday.

In other city business last week, the council accepted the annual report of Clarendon Housing Authority Executive Director Tammy Christopher and approved the city’s quarterly investment report.

A proposal for a new vending contract for the Clarendon Aquatic Center was turned down with aldermen voting instead to do away with the vending machines and sell concessions directly.

The council also discussed the five dollar entrance fee for the aquatic center for people who are not swimming. The fee has been a source of a few complaints, but some aldermen felt it was still a revenue stream for the aquatic center and that those not swimming are still enjoying chair and using other facilities at the center. Aldermen Ashlee Estlack, Tom Thompson, and Chelsi Shadle voted to leave the charge unchanged with Alderman Brittney Wolfe voting no.

The council was scheduled to conduct the annual evaluation of City Secretary Machiel Covey, but with three of four current aldermen having been in office for only two months, the council voted to delegate Covey’s evaluation to the city administrator. The council will then review Covey’s evaluation.