Coffee City mayor to resign following city council meeting

COFFEE CITY — One month ago, three Coffee City Council members and the city secretary resigned from their positions, putting city business on hold. According to our news partner KETK, some city officials including the police chief said the council members hadn’t been showing up due to dissatisfaction with operations, the use of city property without proper approval and even alleged racial remarks between employees. “Relieved! I’m very relieved for the citizens, myself and the council members,” said Coffee City Mayor Frank Serrato. Serrato announced he would be turning in his resignation at the next city meeting. Citing family and a new job as his priority. For months, members said the no-shows of council members have left the city unable to conduct regular business. This week, four council members showed up, which allowed the discussion to fill in vacant seats on the council.

“With all of the vacancies and knowing that we needed to get them filled, I just figured I might as well step up now so I at least can kind of figure out what’s going on,” said Jeff Blackstone, a newly appointed council member. Four new applicants were discussed and interviewed to replace the vacant seats. Though, only one was appointed until the next scheduled meeting. Blackstone said his primary goals are just to get the city up and running again. “I think the problem that we have right now is that there is not a whole lot of communication. We had a good turn out here tonight, but people have all these questions and they don’t know the answers to and we need to be more transparent and explain to people why the EDC can’t buy a piece of property or why we can’t have this over here,” said Blackstone.

The next City Council meeting will be held on August 18 at the Coffee City Community Center.