Report from Wyoming

Jane Prendergast reports:


Some City Council members wondered why Mayor David Savage’s wife, Judy, was in the audience for last night’s meeting. But they thought it might be because they were honoring 31-year water department employee and volunteer firefighter Johnny Leavell.

Nope.

She was there because her husband of 50 years – a council member here since 1979, mayor in 1987 and then again from 1989 until now, was about to announce he was quitting.

Only she and Barry Porter, the vice mayor who’ll take over after Feb. 8, knew it. Council members talked about the citizens of the year, Save Darfur Day on Jan. 29, the Beautify Wyoming Commission, etc.

Until agenda item "N – miscellaneous." Then Savage started talking about how proud he is of his colleagues and the administration and so on……

That’s when it hit Councilwoman Vicky Zwissler: "I thought, ‘Oh no, he’s going to do it," she said this morning. "I’m sad for us, but it’s so nice for him."

There’d been talk for some time - particularly during and after the tense times last summer when city officials were sued by a citizens group that wanted to stop construction of the new pool – that Savage might choose to go now.

He said that controversy wasn’t the deciding factor, rather it’s just time to do something else. Like a month-long trip to Australia in March with his wife, who’s retiring soon too, and then a cross-country motorcycle ride with a son. He is, after all, the mayor who wears leather chaps and vests to meetings.

But there’s another distinction that ends with Savage’s departure. Since at least 1849, there’s been a David Jackson Savage in Ohio who’s been able to marry people. The mayor’s dad was a judge and his grandfather a justice of the peace.

Savage’s last time to preside over Mayor’s Court is tonight. No word yet on whether there will be any more Savage-officiated weddings before Feb. 8.