Freddie Taylor, seated left, presided over the Tuesday night City Council Meeting, after earlier being named
Mayor of Sulphur Springs. Right, City Council Woman Yolanda Williams was named as Mayor Pro Tem for
the year, by fellow councilmen.


New Mayor Named At
Tuesday City Council Meeting

by: Bobby McDonald

In a historic move by the Sulphur Springs City Council, Mayor Clay Walker turned the gavel of the city over to Freddie Taylor, who had served as Mayor Pro Tem for the past year, at Tuesday night's City Council Meeting. Replacing Taylor as Mayor Pro Tem and marking the first time that two African-American citizens had held the two top spots in the city, City Councilwoman Yolanda Williams was selected by fellow councilmen as Mayor Pro Tem for 2006-07.

"I'm excited!" expressed Williams, who won a council seat in a run-off election in June of 2005. "I think Sulphur Springs is one of the best communities in the world and I want to work to make certain that every citizen is represented and that everyone has a voice!"

 

In other action, retiring City Councilman Joe Crouch, who did not seek re-election to his seat, was lauded for his work for the City of Sulphur Springs, and the Council passed a resolution to change the name of Radio Road to "Bill Bradford Road," in honor of local radio personality, Bill Bradford, who has served as the "voice of Sulphur Springs" for over half a century.

Councilmen had several local citizens, many of them members of the Downtown Business Alliance, that asked a variety of questions regarding several of the items on Tuesday night's agenda and took advantage of the Public Forum section of the agenda to clarify some of the procedures of passing agenda items.

Billie Ruth Stanbridge was one of the concerned members of the
Downtown Business Alliance who addressed the Council on Tuesday night.

In other action, the Council passed a number of appointments to a number of city boards and tabled a motion on a purchase of new fire truck for the city. They will be meeting in another meeting later in the month to discuss the sizeable purchase to the city's fire fleet.

Oscar Aguilar, left, listens attentively after being sworn-in as the newest member of the council, and
former Mayor Clay Walker, right, listens to a proposal.

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 8:30 p.m., following reports on several downtown problems and the address of a citizen who asked for aid in placing reflectors at an Eazy Street location.

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