ASHLAND – First Ward City Councilman Duane Fishpaw was appointed by City Council to serve as mayor for the duration of Mayor Glen Stewart’s term.
Fishpaw was approved as mayor by a 3-0 vote (Fishpaw abstained and Bob Valentine was absent) during a special meeting Wednesday afternoon in the mayor’s office.
“Last night, the council had an opportunity to meet in executive session to discuss how we would replace the mayor for the remaining months of his term,” Councilman Matt Miller said before the vote. “After a lengthy discussion and deliberation in executive session, now we are ready to make a decision.”
Stewart announced Monday that he was retiring effective Jan. 21, 2017. His four-year term is scheduled to end Dec. 31, 2017.
“I want to keep things on an even keel and work with the projects we have in progress right now,” Fishpaw said Wednesday after he was appointed.
Fishpaw, who has been councilman for six years, said Wednesday he is not planning on running for mayor in the November 2017 election.
“A couple of the councilmen are going to run for mayor and it was the opinion of the council that with the two running for mayor, nobody should be given an unfair advantage during the campaign process,” Fishbaugh said. “I had thought about it but I told them I would not run for mayor if they appointed me to this job, at least not in the next election.”
The 62-year-old Ashland native spent 31 years with the Ashland City Fire Department before retiring in 2011. He was an officer with the department for 20 years, including 17 years as assistant chief and serving as interim chief between Mark Burgess and Rick Anderson.
Fishpaw said he is ready to get down to the business of learn what it takes to be mayor from Stewart before he retires.
“The reason the councilmen basically wanted to get this done in a hurry is so the person could have plenty of time to get familiar with the job and the responsibilities of the job,” Fishpaw said. “I’ll try as much as I can to get in here as much as I can to get myself familiar with everything he does.”
The future mayor said it would be “his dream” for Ashland to experience economic growth during his time in office.
“We’re in a position here, I think, that’s started and we just need to keep things going and push for more business in this town,” Fishpaw said. “I’d love to see us really get business going again.”
Fishpaw’s council term continues through Dec. 31, 2019. City Council will appoint a replacement to serve out the remainder of his term. Council President Ruth Detrow said council will accept letters of interest from First Ward residents who would like to be appointed to finish Fishpaw’s term, although no timeline has been set for that process.
