Wynnewood has a full city council again, after being three members short for the last several weeks.
The five remaining council members declared the three open seats vacated and made appointments to fill those vacancies during a special meeting July 31.
The appointment of new members was originally set for the council’s regular meeting July 14, but that meeting was canceled for lack of a quorum.
With three open seats, all five remaining council members have to be present to have the quorum required for a meeting. The council was unable to have a quorum for subsequent special meetings scheduled on July 20, July 23 and July 28.
During the July 31 meeting, council members Bob Anderson, Vickie Motes, Kaleb Patchell, Autumn Cooper and Tonya Munn were all present and declared the unexpired city council seats vacated for Wards 1, 3 and 4.
The Ward 1 seat was recently resigned by Beverly Badgley. The Ward 3 and Ward 4 seats were previously held by James Allen and Melody Mahorney, who had to step down in June after failing to complete training for first-time elected officials within their first year of holding office, as required by state law.
The council voted to reappoint James Allen, the only person to express interest in the position, to the Ward 3 seat.
Aaron Graves was appointed to the Ward 1 seat, being selected from a field of three candidates, which also included Corey Martin and Nick Featheringill.
Todd Worman was appointed to fill the Ward 4 seat. Robert “Logan” Childers was also considered for the Ward 4 position.
Graves and Allen were not present at the meeting, but Worman was sworn in following his appointment and took his seat at the council table for the remainder of the meeting.
In other action:
• The council voted to designate councilwoman Autumn Cooper as the board’s president, a position previously held by Badgley.
• The council spent about 15 minutes in executive session to discuss candidates applying for employment as an animal control/code enforcement officer and for two police officer positions. Upon returning to open session the council voted to hire Darius Wright as the code enforcement officer, and Dallin Schneider and Vincent Johnson as police officers.
• The council considered and approved abatement for weeds and trash on two properties - one in the 500 block of South Long and one in the 600 block of South Jarrett. Abatement on a third property, in the 1100 block of E. Robert S. Kerr, was deemed no longer necessary since the owner has decided to mow the lot.
• Council members approved a resolution for a REAP grant application for repairing or replacing a traffic signal.
• The council heard a request from Police Chief Larry Gilleland that they consider a wage increase for dispatcher Kendra Moore. Gilliland praised Moore’s job performance and said she has worked for the department for two years with no pay increase. The agenda item was for discussion only. Mayor Keith Huitt told the council he would have to discuss the feasibility of an increase with the city’s accountant.