Bridgeport officially has a new Mayor, City Recorder and member of City Council. At a special meeting of the city’s governing body tonight, the group appointed individuals to fill all three positions.

 

After City Attorney Dean Ramsey explained the process for filling the posts on Council, the group began to fill the positions, and they did so quickly. In roughly 25 minutes, the spots were no longer vacant.

 

Acting Mayor Bob Greer, who was previously City Recorder, was voted unanimously to be the new Mayor. He was nominated by Council member Diana Marra.

 

Melissa Matheny, who Greer said is the senior most member of the city’s governing body, was then named Recorder. Council member Dustin Vincent nominated Matheny, who was also unanimously selected.

 

Those appointments went by with more accord than the filling of the Council seat opening created by Matheny’s move to Recorder. Marra was the first to put a motion on the floor to nominate former Council member Dr. Harry M. “Hank” Murray. Following her motion, Matheny nominated former long-time Council member Chuck Lindsey. The final nomination came from Council member Darrell Bowen, who nominated resident Lowell “L.J.” Maxey, who ran for Council in the most recent election and was just short of winning a seat.

 

With Marra’s motion on the floor, Greer called for a vote. Murray was chosen to finish out the remaining nine-month term on Council by a 3-2 vote. Council member John Wilson, Marra and Vincent voted for the appointment, while Matheny and Bowen voted against it.

 

The appointments became necessary on Sept. 8. At that time, former Bridgeport Mayor Mario Blount resigned from the post ahead of this past Friday’s plea hearing in federal court. Blount pleaded guilty to a trio of federal drug charges (that story HERE).

 

Greer was serving in the acting mayor’s role, as prescribed by the City Charter, before tonight’s appointment. He publicly thanked Council for having faith in his ability to serve on a permanent basis. After the appointment and prior to an executive session, Greer talked about restoring the faith of the community in the city’s governing body. In explaining how to get the trust back of the populace, Greer was straight forward in his response.

 

“By doing my job,” he said. “The only way I’ve ever done it in any professional sources is by rolling my sleeves up and going to work to get the jobs done that need to be done.”

 

Although Blount had support in the community, many in Bridgeport and beyond were displeased with the accusations against Blount, followed by the fact that he pleaded guilty to felony drug charges and waited until eight days ago to resign. Greer is well aware of the angst in the community and has even been witness to it.

 

“There had been a number of comments publicly in the social media, in the print and other news media that have directed a lot of concern to the city’s management and Council in particular,” said Greer. “I look forward to restoring the faith of the community in the governing body and in particularly the mayor’s position.”

 

When asked about other concerns hoisted at Bridgeport beyond the city’s borders, Greer said he was aware of that as well. And he offered these words.

 

“I’m sure that Bridgeport is up to it so to speak,” said Greer. “I think the majority of the people understand the difficulty that our past mayor was under personally. As I’ve said all along I don’t believe there have been any accusations that his actions in his capacity as mayor were inappropriate or otherwise. I’m confident that the surrounding cities and the (Harrison) County Commission will quickly restore their faith in the City of Bridgeport.”

 

For Matheny, the appointment will be her last time on Council. Previously, she had announced that she would not seek re-election when her Council seat was up in nine months. She said that still holds true with the job she was appointed to this evening as she still wants to spend more time with her family and her youngest child – who was on hand for the appointment.

 

“I am happy to fill the gap until the term is up. I want do what I can until that time,” said Matheny.

 

Marra’s recommendation of Murray was based on the fact that Murray is a previous member of Council with a long tenure of service to the city. With only nine months to serve, the learning curve should not be so steep.

 

“He’d be more than qualified to fill the unexpired term for a period of nine months,” said Marra, who had her motion seconded by Wilson.

 

While the motion was on the table, Matheny voiced her opinion as to who she would like to fill the post.  She suggested that another former Council member Lindsey, who served multiple terms, to fill the spot.

 

“Chuck Lindsey also served extensively for the city … He has the same qualifications and willingness to serve (as Murray),” Matheny said.

As it turned out, the option of appointing Lindsey wasn’t the last. Bowen then recommended Council consider Maxey. Maxey, formerly of the Drug Enforcement Agency and the State Police, narrowly lost an election bid to sit on Council during the last election.

 

“He has had a distinguished career in law enforcement … He participated in the last election and got 2 percent less of the vote than the next person (who filled the final seat). He was vetted by the public and not by us.”

 

The recommendations of Lindsey and Maxey never came to a vote. With the Murray motion on the floor, the 3-2 vote came in.

 

Greer mentioned that several members of Council had been contacted about filling the position. Jeff Smell was one of those and was in attendance, while resident Ben Randolph was also mentioned. David Claprood, who ran unsuccessfully for Council, and Mike Fresa, who came up short in his bid for Mayor during the last election, were both in attendance and both said they were not there to be considered for the position.

 

The trio will officially be sworn in to their new positions at the next Council meeting. That meeting is set for Sept. 22 at 7 p.m. The meeting is open to the public.

 

Following the meeting, Council went into executive session. City Manager Kim Haws and Assistant City Manager Jimmy Smith both said there would be nothing to come out of the meeting that would require action once Council adjourned. The session was to discuss matters involving the purchase of property.

 

Editor’s Note: New Mayor Bob Greer takes questions from the media following his appointment Tuesday in the top photo, while Melissa Matheny shows off her smile following her appointment. Darrell Bowen is shown in the bottom picture as he waits to make his recommendation for a new Council member.