Houston, we have a mayor

HOUSTON — What began as a concerted effort to oppose the mayor and reached a crescendo with a petition to recall him ended peacefully Thursday night when the city council chose Rosemary Burnett to be the city’s top administrator.

In accepting the position, Burnett made a plea for reconciliation.

“I’m tired of seeing my city being torn apart,” she said.

Burnett also reached one of former mayors Roger Purcell’s most vocal opponents, Julia Normand, who closely observes city council meetings and writes about what she sees.

“You can help us get together,” Burnett told Normand, before reaching out to the rest of the anti-Purcell camp, saying she’d love to hear from them. “I’d appreciate it if they would come in and talk to me. Not blog about it or anything else, just talk.”

Purcell staved off the recall election, which would have been held Tuesday, by resigning last week, effective 10 p.m. on Monday. He said he did so due to family and financial stress, rather than political pressure. His reign was tumultuous. Those who opposed him criticized Purcell for budget shortfalls that threatened to disband the police department and for dogs and cats at the city’s animal shelter that were shot because they weren’t adopted. The recall itself alleged he improperly used the overhead flashing lights driving a borrowed city police car on a trip to drop off a grant application in Fairbanks.

Though Burnett didn’t talk much about the recall, what she did say was that there wasn’t a groundswell of opposition against Purcell like some might have thought. Houston has a lot of people and the recall camp was a small minority.

“Not all feel as strongly as the few who designed the recall,” she said.

The vote that seated Burnett was split 5-2. Councilwomen Natasha Schachle and Virgie Thompson voted for themselves.

Afterward, the five who voted in the majority expressed a desire to move on — except Purcell, who didn’t speak, and councilman Lee Himes, who simply thanked the audience for coming out.

“I would like to see the city heal,” said council member Ruth Blanchard.

“I really hope that we can go through a healing process,” said Deputy Mayor Lance Wilson.

On the other side, Thompson was less than pleased.

“I truly think that Houston has a long way to go,” she said. “I personally feel that having Rosemary is the same as having Mr. Purcell.”

For her part, Schachle said she felt there were many people who could have filled the mayor’s position.

“I believe that I could have done that for the next couple months,” she said.

What she meant was that the council will have a new composition following this fall’s election and that after each election the council chooses one of its members to serve as mayor. So, Burnett will fill the role for about four months.

Burnett said she hopes to make those months run smoothly for the city and intends to do that by respecting her colleagues and not taking anything said at the council table too personally.

“It’s time to quit the bad publicity,” she said.

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