Houston Mayor Frost resigns from city council

WASILLA — Houston Mayor Steve Frost has resigned, citing his need to be close to his family and irresolvable conflicts with other city council members.

“Just as there is a fine line between genius and insanity, there is also a time to recognize when an honest attempt at a noble challenge becomes an impossible mission,” Frost wrote in a letter delivered to council this past week. “It is that time for me.”

While Frost didn’t single out any particular council members, he cited “roadblock after roadblock of mean-spirited, personal and possibly even partisan political bickering.”

Frost was selected last October by the council from among its ranks to serve as mayor. Family issues had lately been keeping him from city hall. In January, he sent notice he planned to extend into March a 30-day leave of absence, which had been due to conclude Jan. 29.

With Frost gone, the council will likely first appoint a person to fill his vacant council seat, said Deputy Mayor Sandy McDonald, who has been serving as mayor in Frost’s absence.

Candidates for the vacant seat will likely be sought through advertising and asked to submit letters of intent and applications at Houston City Hall, McDonald said. That’s the process the city has followed in the past when a council member could not fulfill a term.

McDonald said all this is a guess as the city’s codes don’t speak to mid-term mayoral replacements. The council will meet Thursday to decide on a plan.

Three council members reached Friday agreed Frost made the right choice.

“I feel sorry for his family and himself,” councilwoman and Houston Lodge owner Rosemary Brunet said. “I just feel that maybe it is time for him to resign because maybe he doesn’t have the time to put in.”

Burnett said she hopes personality conflicts that buffeted the council can also be put in the past.

Councilman Lee Himes said the mayor had been doing a good job, but if family matters didn’t allow him time to serve, he made the right choice in stepping down.

“I just think that the city council has to move forward and the city has to move forward,” Himes said.

Even as he said that, Himes wasn’t sure if peace would return to the council, especially in light of the politicking that will go on as members vie for the open mayor spot.

“The drama’s going to get a lot worse,” Himes said.

Burnett conceded there might be some campaigning amongst council members as they choose a new mayor.

“I don’t see any real conflicts, though,” she said.

She declined to say which council member she would back as mayor.

“I, myself, do not want it, because I know that I, as a business person, am far too busy to take that chore on,” she said.

Whichever council member she eventually supports will have to be one who originally came to the council through an election, not one who, like Frost’s eventual replacement, was appointed by the council.

Councilman Roger Purcell said the same.

Purcell had run his campaign hoping to clinch the mayoral seat. Asked Thursday if he would throw his hat in the ring as a contender now that Frost is gone, he deferred.

“If there’s somebody else that wants to step in and can do a really good job, I’ll back them 100 percent,” Purcell said.

Someone without the expertise he said is needed — accounting, business and political — would not get his support, Purcell said.

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