Shenandoah Councilman Ron Hyde has announced plans to resign from the city council Feb. 13, more than one year before his term is up for re-election. Hyde announced his plans to resign at a council meeting Jan. 22.
"We have a lot of good people in Shenandoah," Hyde said at the meeting. I'm sure somebody will step up."
Hyde said he recently made the decision to resign after starting a new career as an oil and gas consultant. The new position requires him to spend much of his time in Pecos, which caused him to miss council meetings in November and December.
"It's been tough since I got this position," Hyde said. "I didn't want to [be unfair] to citizens by holding this position."
The Position 2 councilman and mayor pro-tem, Hyde said he was serving his third term on the city council, which is up for re-election in May 2015. He said he has been proud of his time served, citing the city's transition from a volunteer fire department to a paid fire department, lowering the city's property tax rate and approving significant improvements to the city's park.
"We've accomplished so much since I've been on the council," he said. "Everything I ran on initially we accomplished. I have no regrets. We have a good council and this team we've got is incredible. They will be able to keep it going."
City Administrator Greg Smith said a special election may be held to replace Hyde on May 10, the same date of the general election for mayor and council positions 1 and 5. Hyde said he plans to send in a formal resignation letter soon and attend his final council meeting on Feb. 12.
"Thank you for your service," Councilman Darrell Frazier said.