By Pat Culverhouse

A pair of vacancies on the Sibley Town Council were filled Monday when Keith Merritt was named to fill one alderman’s vacancy and alderman Richard Davis was voted Mayor Pro Tem.

Both vacancies arose when Sibley Mayor Jimmy Williams passed away suddenly last month.

Merritt will fill the alderman’s seat formerly held by Robert Smart, who was named Mayor to complete Williams’ unexpired term. Once appointed, Smart resigned his seat on the council, creating the opening. Davis, who also serves Sibley as assistant fire chief, was named to replace Smart who was serving as pro tem at the time of Williams’ death.

Sibley elections for mayor and aldermen seats will be held this year.

“Sibley lost a tremendous asset and we all lost a very good friend,” Smart said to begin Monday’s meeting. “He was a very busy man and it’s up to all of us to see to it that the projects he had begun are completed. He never started something he didn’t finish and neither should we.”

In other business Monday, council members agreed to declare two pieces of moveable property as surplus to be sold at online auction. Police vehicles scheduled for sale are a 2010 Dodge Charger (minimum bid $4,000) and 2010 Chevrolet Tahoe (minimum bid $6,000). 

Both will be assigned to the LPS Municipal Surplus Property Program and listed “as is, there is” on the site https://lamats.net/surplus for a minimum of seven days, commencing 15 days after publication of notice in the town’s official journal. The Town of Sibley reserves the right to reject bids not deemed representative of fair market value.

Council members also agreed to amendments to the town’s employee manual, and heard monthly reports from the fire and police departments.