CAO, department directors on hold

The Mayor and City Council launched their new four-year terms July 6, but the city’s chief administrative officer and department directors will have to wait until the council’s next meeting on July 20, to see if they are confirmed.

Councilmembers, after a 40-minute closed session, voted unanimously to table the re-appointments of CAO Mike Leonard, Police Chief John Miller, Fire Chief Joe Boney, and directors Jerry Creel of Community Development, Billy Ray Allen of Public Works, Sherry Bell of Parks and Recreation, and City Attorney Peter Abide and the firm Currie-Johnson.

The team would continue to serve at least until July 20, the council said.

Fire Chief Boney, at the outset of the meeting and aware of the apparent lack of support, announced that he planned to retire at the end of this year, moving up his planned retirement in 2022, which would have coincided with his term as president of the 10-state Southeastern Association of Fire Chiefs.
See the replay the council meeting
Read the July 6 agenda
Read Joe Boney’s statement