September 11, 2018
By: Dwayne Page
Smithville has a new alderman.
Donnie Crook was appointed Monday night upon the recommendation of Mayor Josh Miller. The aldermen voted to make the appointment during the regular monthly meeting. Crook will fill the remaining two years of Miller’s unexpired alderman term.
“I have lived in the city for probably 50 years. My home is on Riley Avenue. My wife Carol and I have one son Jacob and two grandchildren. I am honored to be appointed alderman. It’s going to be a new experience for me but I’ll do the best I can,” said Crook.
Crook is also a businessman. He has owned the Stop N Buy convenience market in Liberty for 12 years.
Mayor Miller said although he had several people express an interest in taking the position, he felt Crook was the right choice.
“Over the past month I have had a lot of phone calls and a lot of text messages from people wanting this seat. Let me say that I have had some very good interest. I think a number of the people that has contacted me would do a fantastic job on this seat. But one name kept coming to my mind and I made a phone call. Let me say I contacted this person (Crook). He did not contact me. I feel like he would be a great asset to this board. I don’t feel like he would be easily swayed and I feel like he would do what is best for our city. That is what I wanted in filling my (alderman) seat. I think that is what we all want. My recommendation to this board is that we appoint Mr. Donnie Crook to this council,” said Mayor Miller.
Alderman Danny Washer made a motion to make the appointment. Alderman Gayla Hendrix offered a second to the motion. Alderman Shawn Jacobs and Brandon Cox joined Washer and Hendrix in voting for Crook.
“Mr. Mayor I am aware of a lot of the people who contacted you. Many of them have contacted me. There have been at least 10 people probably who took some interest. Many of them including Donnie are my friends and this is a very hard decision to make. We have a lot of quality people and I think just about any of them would have done a great job,” said Alderman Jacobs.
“I have had similar contacts. Making an appointment to an elected position is not a tenable position to be in. It’s the most undemocratic way to do it but it’s what we have to do according to the charter. There have been numerous people that I think are well qualified that could take this seat and I hope they do run in two years for the vacancy,” added Alderman Cox.
Mayor Miller assigned the Aldermen to oversee the various city departments and made other appointments to city boards with the approval of the aldermen including the following:
Vice Mayor: Alderman Danny Washer
Police and Fire Department Commissioner: Alderman Shawn Jacobs
Finance and Taxation Commissioner: Alderman Gayla Hendrix
Streets and Safety Commissioner: Alderman Brandon Cox
Water and Sewer Department Commissioner: Alderman Danny Washer
Sanitation Department Commissioner: Alderman Donnie Crook
Planning Commission: Dwayne Snow and Kim Luton (citizen members) and Mayor Josh Miller
Beer Board: Farron Hendrix (citizen member)
Board of Zoning Appeals: Wade Smith and Eddie Hobson (citizen members) and Alderman Gayla Hendrix
911 Board: Alderman Brandon Cox
Industrial Board: Mayor Josh Miller and Dr. Steven Cooper (citizen member)
City Judge: Hilton Conger
Smithville Electric System Board of Directors: Mayor Josh Miller and Jason Murphy (citizen member) to replace Anthony Hagan.