Elmore City Councilman Bobby Snow has lost his position on the City Council after missing more than half of the council’s meetings over the last four months.
Snow was notified by Elmore City last week that he had vacated his office due to the absences.
According to Elmore City officials, Snow has missed five of the last nine meetings, including special meetings on Oct. 18, 21 and 29, the Nov. 2 regular meeting and a special meeting on Nov. 5. According to Oklahoma statute, when a member of a municipal governing body is absent from more than half of the meetings held in a consecutive four-month period they cease to hold office.
The News Star reached out to Snow, but he declined to comment publicly on the situation.
Elmore City’s council is comprised of four council positions, elected by wards. For City Council purposes the mayor is considered a non-voting member of the council, except when breaking a tie vote.
The City Council has had an empty seat since Randal McFadden’s resignation from his Ward 3 seat earlier this year. Now Snow’s departure leaves Elmore City without enough sitting councilmembers for a quorum, which means the council is unable to hold meetings to conduct business.
Elmore City has called a special election for February 8, the next available election date, to fill the empty seats. The filing period to declare candidacy for the February election will be Dec. 6-8 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Garvin County Election Board. The offices to be filled are the remaining term on Snow’s Ward 2 council seat, set to expire in 2023, and the remainder of the council seat for Ward 3, set to expire in 2025.
In the meantime, Elmore City Mayor Brandae Hucks and remaining councilmembers Adam Venegas and Tim Clark are meeting the city’s financial obligations, including payroll and utilities, through Oklahoma statute provisions that allow for emergency payment measures when a majority of governing body seats are vacant.
“We’ve had some setbacks, but we’re going to keep moving forward,” Hucks said. She said she, the remaining council members and city employees will continue to concentrate on their day-to-day jobs and on volunteer efforts to improve Elmore City as they wait for the February election and a return to a full council.