Longtime Baldwin City Council member Larry Lewallen has resigned three months ahead of his expected departure from office.
Lewallen served on the city council for ten years. He was not seeking reelection.
Although his term expires at the end of December, Lewallen announced at the September 25 council meeting he was stepping down immediately.
“I’m sorry, but under certain circumstances and over the past, I’ve got to resign my post on the city council as of tonight,” he announced. “I was supposed to go to the end of the year, but I’ve been here 10 years. I think that’s a good long time. For the people that elected me, I hate to do this, but this is something I have to do. I always tried to do what I thought was best for the city and the citizens.”
Councilmember Maarten Venter said he will miss having Lewallen on the council.
“I appreciate you, Larry. You have always been a solid guy,” Venter said.
Baldwin’s Acting Mayor Alice Venter also expressed gratitude.
“Well, thank you very much for all your years of service. You have been a classic example,” she told Lewallen.
Lewallen is the second member to resign from the Baldwin City Council this year. In February, Mayor Joe Elam resigned. The council is now down to just four members.
“We have a quorum as we stand, but if something happened to one of the council members, we would be in trouble,” the acting mayor tells Now Habersham.
Eric Keith was the only person to qualify for Lewallen’s seat in the upcoming election. He will be sworn in in January.
Alice Venter says the city is checking with legal counsel to determine if Keith could be appointed to the seat before officially taking office in January.
