McBee swears in new mayor, council members

McBEE – The Town of McBee has a new mayor, John Campolong, who was sworn in Tuesday night at the almost completed town hall.

Along with a new mayor, the town also swore in two new council members, Charlie Sutton and Marilyn Fields. Sutton was re-elected and Fields is new to the office. Outgoing Mayor Eddie Kirkland was not in attendance.

Many people turned out for the meeting, and all of the available seating was quickly filled.

Many people stood against the walls and some even sat on the floor. The community was curious to see their new government during their first post inaugural assignment.

Fields will now be in charge of office management and human resources.

The council plans on improvements being seen at the library, in health care, property and its appearance, and casualty insurance. Charlie Sutton has been placed in charge of the Water Department and street maintenance. He will focus on improving the streets, homes, etc. He will also work with the Police Department and handle service contracts. Mayor Campolong will focus on budgets/ finances and will also continue to work on the “town recovery of water.” This is a program trying to return control of town water to McBee away from Alligator Rural Water Services.

He went on to discuss a special election being held on Dec. 19 to replace his vacated position on the council. The opening date to sign up is Oct. 10 at noon, and this will be open to the public for two weeks.