BELLVILLE — Teri Brenkus will become Bellville’s new mayor in January 2017.
After weeks of navigating confusing requirements, the replacement for Darrell Banks was appointed during Tuesday night’s village council meeting. Brenkus says she is “excited, humbled and honored as she looks forward” to being only the fifth mayor of Bellville since 1960.
Brenkus, who has never held public office, says her 10 years in office management and human resources, provided the necessary experience. For the next three weeks, she will receive training and be shadowing Banks to learn mayoral duties, including Mayor’s Court.
Brenkus is employed by Possum Run Greenhouse and volunteers as the Corporate Donations & Marketing Coordinator at the Bellville Neighborhood Outreach Center.
Getting a new mayor proved more time consuming than expected for Bellville’s council members. The current mayor, Republican Darrell Banks, was elected to a Richland County Commissioner’s seat in November, defeating challenger Ron Davis. He officially departs as mayor at the end of the year.
The normal procedure requires a member of the council to become mayor. A council member is elected “President of the Council Pro Tempore” at the beginning of each year by fellow council members. This person becomes the new mayor when an existing mayor leaves office before the end of the term.
However, due to work and personal considerations, current Bellville council members did not appear interested in taking on the added responsibility. Deliberations took place in executive session on Nov. 19 and 29 to find a new council member interested in the mayoral duties.
Bellville’s council was facing a scenario where the President Pro Tempore would become mayor. That person’s vacant council seat would be filled by a new council member, and then elected the new President Pro Tempore. The new mayor would resign and the new council member would become mayor.
The process got a little smoother when Candace Branham announced her resignation from the council at the Dec. 6 meeting. Brenkus was appointed to fill Branham’s vacant seat. She was then elected President Pro Tempore by her peers in that same meeting, meaning she will be mayor in January.
Brenkus was appointed for a one-year term though she indicated she might run in the November general election for a full four-year term. For now, she says her goals include implementing a text message-alert system based on the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT). CERT training programs emphasize disaster preparedness and response skills.
Banks said he is proud to be from Bellville and delighted to be the mayor for the past nine years.
“The people have been good to me,” he said adding that he believes council members, Village staff and the Village Administrator helped bring about important improvements for Bellville.
He believes those improvements helped propel him to victory in the Commissioner’s race. The improvement with the greatest impact, Banks said, was the creation of the Clear Fork sub-district of the Muskingum Watershed. He says it has brought greater attention to flooding issues in the valley.
Current village projects include an ongoing struggle to improve the wastewater treatment facility. Council is also expected to review plans for a new Avita healthcare clinic as well as a truck stop, both to be located at the I-71 and Ohio 97 intersection.
Recent road construction at that intersection slated for completion by Oct. 15 is only now being finished. As a result, the finish layers of asphalt will not be completed until next spring. Lane lines were added late last week.
