Huntington City Council elects Mike Shockley as chair; Todd Sweeney chosen vice chair

Mike Shockley was elected chair of the Huntington City Council and Todd Sweeney was chosen vice chair at a Jan. 8 special meeting convened solely to elect council officers.

The council opened nominations for chair and received two nominees. After a motion to hear brief statements from the nominees passed, Shockley and Holly Mount addressed the council. Shockley said he is entering his third term and ninth year on the council, cited prior leadership on administration and finance and the CDBG committee, and said he wanted to provide steady leadership during the new council’s first year. "I want to start this off with some new council members and provide some leadership, some support, and, go at it 1 year, with this new council," he said.

Mount said she views the chair role as one of "responsibility, accountability, and resourcefulness," not power. She described an approach of assigning committee work through conversation and matching members’ district priorities to committee responsibilities, and said she would focus on keeping meetings "effective, efficient, and civil."

The clerk conducted a roll-call vote for chair. The tally recorded 7 votes for Shockley and 4 votes for Mount. The presiding officer congratulated Shockley on his election and the council completed a brief seat exchange.

The council then opened nominations for vice chair. Multiple candidates were nominated and the clerk conducted a roll-call vote. The tally recorded 6 votes for Todd Sweeney and 5 votes for Mount; the roll call concluded the vice chair election.

A motion to adjourn was made and seconded, and the special meeting ended.

The meeting’s official record shows the single agenda item was the election of officers; no other policy items were discussed.