By Mary Wade Burnside
FAIRMONT — When Bob Garcia was sworn in as Mannington’s new mayor on July 1, one of his first orders of business was asking every member of the city’s park board to resign.
“I didn’t think anything was getting done, and I gave them a wake-up call,” he said.
This wake-up call came in the form of four letters, one to each acting member of the board, board member Betty Liller said.
The letters, written by president Katy Stafford upon Garcia’s request, said simply that the new mayor had asked all of the board members to resign. It further said that the mayor believes council members should have the opportunity to make new appointments if they choose. It did not give a reason for the request and was dated July 1, 2009, Liller said.
Stafford would not comment on the letters or anything else about the situation last week and referred all the information to the mayor.
Currently, the typically five-member board consists of Liller, Stafford, Jack Wilson and Gene Powell, with one vacancy left by George Rinehart, who recently moved away, Liller said.
After Liller received her letter, which she said came as a surprise that she was not happy about, she attended a council meeting last Monday night, Garcia’s first as mayor. During that meeting, Liller informed the mayor that he did not have the authority to make that type of a request without the approval of the rest of the council, which he did not have.
“I just said he didn’t have authority to ask members to resign if he didn’t have approval of council,” Liller said. “He said he didn’t have the approval of council but would have it at the next meeting, which is kind of double talk.”
