CEDARVILLE (KFSM)- Glenanna O’Mara has been the city’s mayor for a little over three years.
“I had been battling illness for many years,” O'Mara said. “I agreed to run again. I was asked by the community to run again, and I did. At the time was doing quite well, but my health has gone into a failing mode again, very severely.”
She requested the city council hold a special election to appoint her successor.
“That would be a fair thing for all the citizens to be heard, but we've got this vote coming up on the 12th, and if that doesn't pass that's a lot of money to the city,” Tim Breshears, alderman said.
O'Mara says some of her greatest accomplishments are the city park, the establishment of the municipal fire department and putting on numerous events for the city, free of charge.
“I hope they find someone that is truly a public servant,” she said. “I think to do this job you have to want this job. This isn't something that you do lightly. You have to want to be out there, to serve and protect your citizens.”
She said finance-wise, the city is heading in the right direction, after former city treasurer Alicson Redding wrote nearly $300,000 in unauthorized checks from 2008 to 2014.
“We've done really pretty well even during all that time period, and not knowing the money was being taken, we have put back into our cash reserves about $100,000, and now we have recovered the money that was gone,” O’Mara said.
City leaders told 5NEWS, they will likely decide how they will appoint the next mayor at their meeting on Tuesday, May 19. That will also be the mayor’s last day in office.