Changes in leadership: History of Valley Mills mayors

With a recently appointed mayor, Valley Mills has seen several mayors come and go already this year.

• Milton Boyle is the Valley Mills mayor
• Residents want more stability in their mayors

BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
"I'm sorry that it came to that point that we had to appoint a mayor, it's not stable," said Wanda Harris, former City Clerk for the City of Valley Mills.

The City of Valley Mills has had its ups and downs with mayors. More recently, three mayors served the city in the past four months.

Harris has lived here her whole life. She tells me there's no denying the city has struggled to keep mayors.

"There's ups and downs. People telling you you've done a good job and the other people telling you you're terrible. Those are the ups and downs," said Harris.

Former Mayor Ray Bickerstaff and former City Secretary Robin Skinner stepped down last month during a city council meeting.

Bickerstaff only served for two months after he won the 2024 mayoral race. That left Craig Godby current mayor pro-tem to fill in until the council appointed Milton Boyle last week as mayor.

Bickerstaff isn't the only mayor who resigned, so did Josh Thayer, who served from May 2021 to January 2023.

"It's hard to keep a small town running like it should because they're just limited on the amount of money they can bring it," said Harris.

I went around Valley Mills talking to several residents about previous mayors and the role they played in pushing the city forward.

Former Council Member Bill McCain who didn't want to go on camera said Howard Hillin rebuilt the street, sewer plants, and more as mayor. Harris said Hillin did what he could.

"He made sure that things were running well but he also did it economically. He would use his vehicle to go away to get parts and he held down the expenses the city expenses but we still had what was needed," said Harris.

Now with a recently appointed Mayor Boyle residents want the city to have a consistent person in the mayoral seat but that decision is up to Mayor Boyle.

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