Deputy mayor takes over Houston’s top job

Frontiersman

HOUSTON — In less than an hour the Houston City Council got done Monday what it couldn’t a week before — fill departed mayor Steve Frost’s council seat and elect a council member to serve as mayor.

Paul Stout was sworn in to fill the council seat. Sandy McDonald is Houston’s new mayor.

McDonald was the only council member to put her name forward for consideration as mayor, a position the council selects from among its members. As the deputy mayor she has, since Frost resigned in February, served as acting mayor.

McDonald won with five votes. Councilman Lee Himes voted for Stout and Councilwoman Rosemary Burnett backed Councilman Roger Purcell.

“This position is far beyond my capability on my own,” McDonald said in putting herself into the running. “I would like the rest of the council to step up and help.”

Stout, a local software developer and analyst and former business owner, said in a speech before his selection that he has never received the amount of support he has in Houston. Last week, a handful of friends and neighbors came forward to back him.

“People here are friendly, independent, open and honest, and would give you the shirt off their backs,” he said.

Stout has been working with the city to fix computer issues, build a Web site and otherwise work to bring City Hall “into this century,” he said. He is also active on the city’s sales tax committee.

In Monday’s vote, he faced only one challenger, Ralph Buzard, a retiree and former Petersburg city councilman, who is also on Houston’s sales tax committee.

Tammy Bennett, daughter of former mayor Dale Adams and political opponent of Purcell and McDonald, withdrew her name from running Monday afternoon, acting clerk Debbie Fites said.

Frost resigned in February, citing as reasons family issues and partisan bickering on the council.

Purcell, a political opponent of Frost’s, ran his campaign for city council publicly hoping to be mayor.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.