Crockett City Council Names Successor for City Administrator’s Position

By Will Johnson

Messenger Reporter

CROCKETT – With the recent announcement of Crockett City Administrator Sean Hutchison’s resignation, the Crockett City Council moved quickly to fill the pending vacancy.

During a council session held on Monday, Oct. 17, the council members approved the appointment of City Secretary Mitzi Thompson as the interim City Administrator and Fire Chief John Angerstein as the Interim Deputy City Administrator.

After the council had disposed of previous agenda items, Crockett Mayor Robert Meadows and four of the five council members retired into executive session at 6:51 p.m. to discuss the upcoming vacancy. Mayor Pro Tem Muriel Williams was not in attendance at the meeting.

When they emerged from behind closed doors approximately 90 minutes later, Mayor Meadows asked for a motion on the matter. A motion was made and seconded to “… offer the position of City Administrator to Mitzi Thompson and the position of Deputy City Administrator to Johns Angerstein, (both) on an interim basis. They have accepted, so, is there any further comment or discussion?”

With no other remarks, the matter was put to a vote and passed by a 3-1 margin. Precinct Five Councilman Mike Marsh voted in opposition.

“Those positions are effective, immediately,” the mayor said. Congratulations and thank you for making this decision. We thank you for your service to the city.”

Following the meeting’s adjournment, Meadows was asked about the appointments of Thompson and Angerstein. Meadows said both Thompson and Angerstein were approved on an interim basis, but stressed, “We will see how these positions work out. We have full confidence in both of them. John (Angerstein) just completed a Certified Public Manager’s course and is working on a degree in the same area. We have confidence in the move we made. Most people don’t like change and I think we (the council) are afraid of that, too. With all the things we have going on and the things Sean (Hutchison) has implemented, we don’t want to drop the ball. Mitzi (Thompson) is up to speed on what Sean has been doing and John is already used to working with a tight budget in his department. He has expressed interest in learning the job and everyone seems to have full confidence in his abilities. I am definitely confident he can do the job.”

As to who will fill the role of City Secretary and Fire Chief, the mayor explained, “The best way I can explain this is that it is going to be a fluid situation. Mitzi already does some of the financial secretary work. She will be filling the role as she did prior to Sean being hired. She will be more on the administrative side. John will be filling the role – similar to the deputy position we had with Ray Fleming. The only thing is he will be looking at the entirety of the position and learning the position, but not with the full weight of the position on him. They will work together to develop the budget and they will be working together to make sure we stay compliant with the TCEQ (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality) guidelines we are currently under. They will also be transitioning so we don’t miss a beat on any of the current grants we are working on.”

“John,” the mayor continued, “even though he will be the Deputy City Administrator, he will be helping (City Fire Marshal) Jason Frizzell over at the Fire Department. It will not be his primary role. His primary role will be here at City Hall, but he will be helping out in situations which may arise that Jason is not comfortable with.”

As far as when Hutchison will begin his new position in Iowa, the mayor said, “Sean will help them transition. He will be leaving somewhere around Thanksgiving. He has agreed to stay that long and his new employers agreed with that as well. He is happy to help us with that. I really appreciate his willingness to stay. As far as a difficult situation, I’m pretty confident in moving forward with what we have agreed to do here tonight.”

Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].