HoweEnterprise.com
October 21, 2019
Mayor Stanley
Jeff Stanley being sworn in for his first term in 2009 by thenCity Secretary Barbara Alvarado. From May, 2009 Texoma Enterprise. (Continued from page 1)
mayor be acted upon in favor of Bill French, a longtime council member. The council voted in favor of French with all in favor besides French who abstained. “I’ve put stipulations on myself that if I could not continue to do the job or did not have the time for the job, that I would step down. That time has come,” said Stanley in open forum at the council meeting. “Over the years, I’ve had to back off of a lot of the jobs that I do and don’t spend as much time at City Hall and I’ve had to step off of boards. This is one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make, but it’s time.” Stanley went on to say that he had talked with French several times over the past year about setting this plan in place. “We’ve never set a date, but I called him up last week and said, ‘it’s time – if the council would agree,'” said Stanley. “I think it’s time for somebody new.” Stanley is the longest-tenured mayor in the City of Howe history behind W.P. Thompson, who was voted mayor of Howe for at least nineteen consecutive terms spanning from 1913-1949. French is a 26-year resident of Howe and has served on the Howe City Council for several consecutive terms and on two separate occasions dating back as early as the 1990s.
Bill French being sworn in Tuesday night at the monthly Howe City Council meeting. Staff photo. “When I first started, I had an abundance of time, but didn’t known diddly squat about running a city,” said Stanley in a sit-down interview. “But I got to be involved in one of the city’s best all -time hires in City Administrator Joe Shephard.” Stanley says that he read everything he could get his hands on about city leadership and with the patience of Shephard, he feels that he became a pretty good mayor. During his tenure as mayor, the downtown area was transformed from an area with a lot of empty buildings to a return to the heart of the city with a thriving business district. “There are businesses downtown now that have been here for a number of years where they used to be in and out of these buildings,” said Stanley referring mainly to both restaurants which have been staples in Howe for over five years. Stanley said that at the top of his list when he started was to make sure the city employees had a secure job as the city was in financial ruin at the beginning of his first term. “Most of the employees had applications out all over the county,” said Stanley. “We changed that.” He was listed off being able to get railroad crossing and getting Sum(Continued on page 6)
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