Council addresses legal options in replacing Mayor Tharpe

After a closed session at the end of Monday’s meeting, Vice-Mayor Bill Sealock explained that council will meet its legal obligation to appoint a new mayor within 45 days of the resignation of Hollis Tharpe on May 2. The announcement of the intended appointment will be made by May 28, Sealock indicated.

The vice mayor, who has been serving as acting mayor since Tharpe’s resignation following a solicitation of prostitution indictment, indicated he does not want the appointment – “I don’t want to lose my vote,” he said of the mayor’s role of only breaking council vote ties.

Council could appoint one of its own or any town citizen legally qualified to serve as mayor to fill the position.

Council has authorized Town Attorney Doug Napier to petition the court not to have to call a required special election to fill the mayor’s term out before the county’s upcoming municipal elections this November. State code allows such requests to be made when the next municipal election is less than a year away.

See Vice Mayor Sealock address council’s plan moving forward in this Royal Examiner video: