After last year's elections for city council, and her election as Vice Mayor, Cathy Goings never expected she'd have to fill the mayor's shoes like she has in the past few weeks.
Goings was only elected to council last year, but in that first year, she's been elected Vice Mayor, and has been filling the role of mayor while current Mayor Patsy Trecost recovers. Even if it was unexpected, she said she did feel prepared.
"The clerk and also the manager took time with all the new council members, and we went through the procedures and the different budgets, reports, and they tried to fill us in as to what was going on," she said.
Clarksburg's mayor isn't directly elected. The mayor is chosen from the seven elected council members at the beginning of each term, but the city's charter doesn't actually call for the position of Vice Mayor to take over for the mayor when necessary.
"We have an ordinance that provides for a vice mayor for just such a circumstance. There isn't any formal swearing in because the vice mayor's been sworn in, and the ordinance provides that when the mayor's not available, really for any reason, then the vice mayor can preside at the meetings," said City Attorney Greg Morgan.
But for now, Vice Mayor Goings will be there to fill the role until Mayor Trecost returns to the council chambers.
"All the members of city council have been real generous with their time, explaining, because I think most of the members there have been either mayor or vice mayor in the past, so they've provided a lot of insight and valuable info to help me do my job," said Goings.
Mayor Trecost on the phone on Thursday evening. He says that he has plenty of confidence that Vice Mayor Goings and the rest of the council can handle the city while he's recovering, and he plans to get back to council for its next meeting.
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