Pikeville commissioners fill board seat
By Melinda Harrell
Published in News on February 4, 2015 1:46 PM
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Steve West
PIKEVILLE -- The Pikeville Board of Commissioners appointed a resident of the Collingwood subdivision to fill a vacant seat on the board at its meeting on Monday.
Commissioner Robert Hooks nominated Steve West to serve in the seat recently vacated by Todd Anderson. The nomination was unanimously approved with light commission attendance as Commissioners Todd Smith and Charles Hooks were not present. Mayor Glenn Hartman cast a vote to give the board a quorum.
There was no discussion of other possible nominations before the vote took place.
Commissioner Robert Hooks said West would do a good job on the board and, as he lives in Collingwood, would be the only representative from the "that side of town."
"I have been knowing him a right good while. It will be good to have a representative from that side of the town serving on the board," Hooks said.
Hartman said he also is confident in West's ability.
"I have known him for a few years. He is a likable man and he will do a good job. Of course he will have to learn, like we all do when first getting on the board," Hartman said.
West had considered running for a seat on the board in the past and has been asked by his neighbors to represent Collingwood on the board as well.
"I had thought about it, at one time, running. I had been asked several times to run by different people in the town. I was asked the other day if I would consider taking this position. It would give me some kind of idea of what was going on if I ever wanted to run. I felt like I would give it a try and offer what I can," West said.
West said it was important to have his area of the town represented on the board because it has been largely under-represented in the past and no other person living in the area seemed to want the seat.
"But no one seems to want to run and fight. When I said I had been asked to run before, the neighbors had asked me to run just to have a mouthpiece for Collingwood. I am sure the neighbors will be coming to me with a wish list," West said.
The seat will expire this year, which means West can run for the seat and, should he win, serve a full term as town commissioner.
West is a native of Fremont, but has lived in Pikeville for 38 years. He is retired now, but worked for Bridgestone/Firestone for 36 years before retirement.
During the public forum portion of the meeting, resident Mary Bailey questioned why Lyman Galloway was never nominated or considered to fill the any of the vacant positions.
Mrs. Bailey noted that Galloway had attended nearly all of the meetings and served as a commissioner on the board for many years.
Hartman said Galloway's name was "never brought up."
Anderson resigned his position on the town board only days after the board chose to appoint Jay Hare to the late Al Greene's seat in January.
The vote on Hare's appointment was split, with Hartman being the tiebreaker. Charles Hooks and Anderson voted against Hare's appointment. Immediately after the vote, Anderson left the meeting. He later announced his resignation.