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Following the recent death of Ron Houston and the surprise resignation of Mayor Tina Gourley last week, the governing body of Blanco held a special meeting Thursday, November 12, to appoint a new council member and a mayor pro tem.

As was reported in last week’s Blanco County News, the council had eight days to make these appointments before the mayor’s resignation became effective in order to avoid calling a special election.

City secretary Bobbie Mowery called the meeting to order and asked for a motion to appoint a mayor pro tem. Council member Bobby McClung was nominated and chosen by a unanimous vote.

The first order of business under his leadership was a vote to appoint new police chief Milton Willman, who has actually been functioning as the chief since the last special meeting on October 20.

Council then went into executive session to consider applications for the empty seat, which had been filed by the following—Pamela Capps, Ralph DeLeon, Martha Herden, Doug Pautz, and Martin Sauceda. Martin Sauceda was chosen in absentia.

In other business, council cast votes for Jack Felps for Board of Directors for the Blanco County Appraisal District, and approved two resolutions.

One resolution supported the creation of subcommittees of the Complete Count Committee regarding the Decennial Census in 2010.

The second would allow council to pursue all Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant funding made available through the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).