Hartselle City Attorney Larry Madison (left) delivered the oath of office to Mayor Bill Smelser Tues., Dec. 1. Smelser has been serving as Mayor Pro-Tempore since former Mayor Don Hall tendered his resignation to the council earlier this year. Hall’s resignation effective date was Nov. 30, 2015. Smelser plans to continue just as he has for the past months and also thanked all of the city employees for the jobs they are doing. | Special to the Enquirer

Billy Buckelew appointed to city council

Randy Garrison

Hartselle Enquirer

In a special called meeting on Tues., Dec. 1, the Hartselle City Council appointed Billy Joe Buckelew to fill the vacated council seat of Bill Smelser. Smelser moved from being Mayor Pro-Tempore to Mayor of the City of Hartselle on Dec. 1 at 12:01 a.m. when former Mayor Don Hall’s official resignation took place.

Smelser has been acting Mayor since August when Hall tendered his resignation to the council but left the date effective Nov. 30, 2015. Hall did surrender all duties of the office of mayor at that time.

The council interviewed 15 candidates who applied for the vacant council seat on Mon., Oct. 9. Council President Kenny Thompson, Councilmen Mike Roberson, Ken Doss and Tom Chappell held the interviews with Smelser in attendance but not participating in the process.

Each council member tallied his opinion on a scale of 1 – 5 as each applicant answered the same four questions:

•What prior experience working with civic, community or governmental organizations do you have?

•What do you perceive as the three most important concerns facing Hartselle? Do you have nay suggestions on how to handle these concerns?

All cities are facing fiscal challenges, how would you address balancing the budget, would you consider various alternatives and tradeoffs?

•What will you do if the rest of the council doesn’t agree with the direction you feel is best, how will you address the conflict?

Buckelew, served as a councilmen from 1988-1992, he is a Msg (ret) Army active duty and National Guard, active member of Hartselle First United Methodist Church, Hartselle Historical Society and past president of Valley Commercial Construction. He and his wife Gene live in Hartselle, they have one son Patrick who with his wife Kim and son Hudson also live in Hartselle.

In his application Buckelew mentioned that he wants to help Hartselle move forward in a positive direction. He also mentioned he did not intend to seek election for a full time next year.