Councilman Alonzo Jones will continue as the mayor and Councilman Dr. Gary Miller will serve as the vice mayor following a vote of City Council today. They will perform the duties of the mayor and vice mayor for the next two years.
Jones has been a Council member for 10 years and has been the mayor since July of 2018. He served as the vice mayor from 2016 to 2018.
Miller has held a seat on the Council since March 2008 when appointed to fill a vacancy due to a resignation. He won election in 2010 and re-election in 2014 and 2018. He will be serving his third term as the vice mayor, having held the position in two-year terms from 2012 to 2016.
Their selection as the mayor and vice mayor took place during an organizational meeting on Wednesday. An organizational meeting is required in July every two years for the public swearing-in of winners of the City Council election held in May, selection of a mayor and vice mayor and issuance of seat assignments for each Council meeting.
The positions of mayor and vice mayor are decided by sitting City Council members to serve two-year terms.
Councilman Sherman Saunders nominated Jones as mayor and Miller as vice mayor. Both were selected by a unanimous vote.
City Council is the governing body of the City of Danville. It is composed of nine people elected at large for four-year staggered terms.
In May, Saunders, L.G. (Larry) Campbell, Lee Vogler and Madison Whittle won re-election. Saunders, Vogler and Whittle were joined today in taking the oath of office by Barry Mayo, who won election in May for his first term on Council. Campbell was unable to attend today’s meeting. He will take the oath of office at a later date.
Campbell, Mayo, Saunders, Vogler and Whittle will serve as Council members until June 30, 2024.
Jones, Miller and James Buckner will serve as Council members until June 30, 2022.
One seat on Council is open following the resignation of Adam Tomer. He announced in late May that he was resigning his seat effective June 30, saying in a statement that he has accepted a job elsewhere that will not allow him “the time or ability to serve the citizens of Danville.”
Tomer was initially elected to City Council in 2006, and his current term was slated to end June 30, 2022. City Council will meet in a special session at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 2, to discuss the process for filling Tomer’s seat.
Following the election of mayor and vice mayor, seating positions for every council member except the mayor was determined Wednesday by a random drawing. Council members must maintain the positions drawn for each meeting until the next inaugural meeting in two years.