Jay Jenkins

Jay Jenkins, a citizen of Pell City for 50 years has been appointed as a Councilmember for District 1.

This decision was reached at a fully unanimous vote from all the councilmembers and Mayor Hereford.

“We thought it would be a good idea to have a representative for the district. And I’m not trying to be evasive about this, because the council and I; we have responsibilities and we take them seriously. The empty position, was our duty to fill it, or at least consider filling it until the elections are over,” said Hereford.

 The council and the mayor were worried that people may be upset over not having any representation until after the elections in August.

“There are three people  qualified for the job, and about two or three more people that are qualified that have expressed interest in running for the spot in the city council,” Hereford explained.

Jenkins was just the person that the council all agreed on to fill the spot. “It’s not a ploy,” Hereford said. “The council put the motion forward and we voted on it and we all agreed that he’d be the right person who was qualified for the job right now. I don’t have a secret motive behind all of this, I even voted last to make sure I didn’t sway anyone.”

Jenkins is a member of the Rotary Club of Pell City and is the owner of All-Pro Trophy; he is also a former State Employment Service Office Manager. When Greg Gossett resigned from the city council, Jenkins took a résumé to the Council and said he’d like to be considered to help fill the vacant position, if they even chose to fill it until the elections. “I’m not a politician, I’m just a regular citizen and I felt  I had a duty to help them. I don’t have any political ties or a hidden agenda to this,” Jenkins said.

Jenkins commented that he wanted to have a say in things that happened, so he offered to fill the Councilmember’s position until the time comes that someone else may be elected into office, but Jenkins has said that he will be run for the position this upcoming election.

Jenkins qualified for the race on Tuesday. When asked if he thought  being in office might help him in the upcoming elections Jenkins replied,

 “Help me? I don’t know if it’d give me any sort of advantage. You’ll always have someone who doesn’t agree with you, but I guess those that do agree with me may vote for me. But you always have to try and work with those people that feel differently than you do.”