Hedley mayor plans resignation

By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

Hedley Mayor Dusty Wilkinson will resign his office this week, according to a statement given to The Clarendon Enterprise.

Wilkinson e-mailed the paper Monday night and said he would like to share with the City of Hedley his reasons for resigning.

“Members of the community have recently harassed and threatened my family, friends, and council members,” Wilkinson’s statement said. “They have a problem with me personally and have made threats and problems for the city.

“I have served this community as mayor for three years where I have donated nearly every Friday to the maintenance of its roads, equipment, sewer lines, trash trucks and general operations,” the mayor wrote, “but I feel it is in the best interest for the safety of both my family and the city that I resign from my position of Mayor effective Thursday, March 7, 2013.”

Mayor Pro Tem Leon Ward said Tuesday he was unaware of Wilkinson’s plan to resign and said he wasn’t sure what might have prompted such a move by the mayor.

“We had some stuff come up over this drought at the last meeting that people were upset about, but we couldn’t help it,” Ward said.

Alderman Tonya Metcalf was also surprised to hear of Wilkinson’s upcoming resignation. Metcalf said she arrived late at the last meeting on February 21, but knew that resident James Edward Potts had addressed the board.

Potts told the Enterprise that he did speak to the board but that he did not threaten anyone.

“We had a heated discussion, and I did get P.O.ed, but there weren’t any threats.,” Potts said. “They did talk about calling the law at one point.”

According to the unofficial minutes of that special meeting, the Hedley Board of Aldermen unanimously approved a clarification of restrictions under the city’s Stage 4 Drought Contingency Plan. Mayor Wilkinson then turned the meeting over to Ward and abstained from the rest of the meeting.

Potts, the minutes say, addressed the council about RV parks in the city needing to have a separate meter and city account for each hook up.

Potts told the Enterprise that he wasn’t concerned about the water meters but that he did think each RV should have its own sewer and Dumpster charge. Otherwise, he said, it wouldn’t be a fair situation to citizens who live in Hedley year round.

The minutes say the board advised Potts that separate meters and accounts would be unnecessary and that the city would install the number of meters, sewer taps, and Dumpsters requested by a business owner and the business would be charged for that number.

The minutes reflect that Potts did not approve of this answer and said he would discuss the issue further with his attorney.

The Hedley Board of Aldermen will meet at 7 p.m. this Thursday, March 7, and Wilkinson tells the Enterprise he will resign at that meeting.