Mayor pro tem Junne Temple resigned her position on the city council Wednesday when she paid her qualifying fee of $82.19 to run for the mayor’s seat.
Danielsville businessman Todd Higdon also qualified on Monday for the mayor’s seat.
A special election will be held Tuesday, March 6, where city voters will have the chance to decide between these two candidates.
The special election is needed to replace former mayor Phillip Croya, who resigned Jan. 10, just 10 days after his new term began. Croya ran unopposed for re-election last November.
The council, including newest member Michael Wideman, will now have the task of appointing a council member to serve the remainder of Temple’s term, which ends Dec. 31.
Wideman was just appointed by the council in a special called meeting this week to replace council member Janice Merk, who also resigned last month.


And to # 3 T.H. commenting on your p.s. ALL opinions do matter regardless of whether they post their name or not.
Some people like to sugar coat what they'd really like to say where as others "JUST SAY WHAT THEY REALLY MEAN".
No point in taking anything personal in these blogs. Most are very enlightening.
I have a saying "You can fool some of the people some of the time but you can fool all the people all the time"!!
Todd Higdon.
(p.s. If your post does not have a name attached to it then it doesn't matter.)
All some of you people have been saying is Danielsville needs new blood? Todd Higdon is that new blood OR you can vote for Temple a bitter old woman who is going to do whatever she has to do to get her way? But I hope Todd has a backbone because I have a feeling if he wins and Temple goes back to council woman she is going to be against him and try and run him off?
It's a shame that the new council members seemed to be "scripted" in last night's meeting. This new council of young men will probably be very good for the city BUT only if they weren't influenced by a "former council" member who just resigned to run for Mayor who also stated earlier that she was not going to run for Mayor. Obviously there is a hidden agenda on her part there! Could it be if she doesn't win, she'll just be re-appointed to an empty council seat?
There was no way that as a new council member and a one month old council member could have legitimately decided "on their own" to dismiss Jerry Pressley from his position two weeks before his contract was to expire and on top of that to pay him for those two weeks he would have worked. Is that a way of placating someone so they would not entertain the idea of a law suit? Just thinking out loud!
Now if you can make that decision based on meeting someone once or twice or even a few times, then your better than most!
It seemed the two new council members obviously felt that they could not appoint a new council member BUT they could make a decision to fire someone.
It should be clear they did exactly what they were informed to do by the ever present x- council member, Junne Temple, as it was very obvious in the meeting that they looked at her to make sure they were doing "the right thing?".
Everyone there, I'm sure left knowing "who ran the meeting".
PLEASE...new council members...don't fall into her trap. She has a record of being nice to your face but watch out...!!
If you ruffle her feathers ever so slightly, you'll next in line looking for a job. Oh..and by the way, don't bother with the Unemployment Office for benefits, the city of Danielsville doesn't pay into this program unless it's changed since the ones were fired last May 2011. Many employees have fallen into her spider web.
And is it true that Mrs. Temple made the agenda up on Thursday or Friday night of last week on the city's computer after she had already resigned her position as Mayor Pro-Tem? Does this mean she still retains keys to the City building?
The 2012 Budget, at the specific direction of the City Council, did include my salary for the full year. It was adopted by he COuncil on December 15th. During the months of November and December, the Council held nurmerous budget meetings where I presented multiple budget options that included hiring a full-time employee to replace me. However, at that time the Council insisted on moving forward with adopting a budget that included my services. I repeatedly advised the Council that if there were any reservations or uncertainty about keeping my services then it should adopt the alternative scenerio of having a full-time permanent staff member. Now the city has a budget that is based on false assumption and needs to be revised to accomodate the additional salary and benefits of a full-time regular employee.
To date not one member of the Council has discussed with me a single problem with my services. In fact, they have all openly praised my service. The only problem anyone has had with me is Mrs. Temple who took offense to a conversation I had with her Dec. 13 or 14 regarding concerns I had over specific negative interactions with staff including myself, which I believe is creating a persistant negative working environment at City Hall. This led to a Council-led staff meeting a few days later. The next week Mrs. Temple came to City Hall and picked up two city employment applications. Two weeks later is was announced that Mrs. Payne was hired as City Clerk in order to replace me at the January 3rd Special Called meeting, which happended to be illegal because no one on the Council informed current staff of the meeting and therefore proper advertising did not occur. The vacancy was never advertised and the interview was apparently conducted in secret under the direction of Mrs. Temple. (I would like to note here that Mrs. Payne- the new City Clerk- was not responsible for this in any way. I personally believe she will serve the city to the best of her ability and do a good job. I will continue to offer support to her and City as the transition process moves forward.)
Terminating my services was clearly the right of the City Council and I respect their decision on the matter. Personnally, I have no objections against the city pursing a different course. I do, however, object to the manner in which I was informed since there was no discussions on the matter prior the Council's vote at very end of last Monday's meeting when they added it to the agenda at the last possible moment- which is in fact improper. If they knew that they wanted to discuss/vote on the matter it should have been added to the agenda and posted 48-hours in advance per the City Charter and established procedures of the City. More importantly, the Council should have taken the time to speak with me about it in advance. The Council needs to take a more open, honest and respectful approach to employee and vendor relations. If it continues on the same path the only people who will work for the city are those the city doesn't want or need working for it.
I have appreciated the opportunity to serve the city and its citizens. I wish the Council and remainig staff well. I hope the city finds great success in the future. I remain willing and able to assist the city in any way possible as it moves forward.
Since she's been in control of the city;
~They fired the engineer (Mr. Quigley)
~They fired the attorney (Mr. Johnson)
~They fired the auditor (Mr. Vance)
~A police officer quit (Mr. Gary)
~They fired the police chief (Mr. Christian)
~They fired the public works superintendent (Mr. Anglin)
~They fired the city clerk (Ms. Riley)
~Knowing that the assistant city clerk would resign (Ms. Delay)
~They hired and fired two Comer policemen (Mr. Zellner and Mr. Moody)
~They fired long time consultant (Mr. Riley)
~The Mayor quit (Mr. Croya)
~A council member quit (Ms. Merk)
~Now they fire Mr. Presley
(Did I leave anyone out? My apologies, if so.)
There is currently no one at city hall that has any history with the city. There is currently no one at city hall who will stand up to her. I know it sounds like I'm referring to Temple as still being on the council, believe me she is. It's going to take a strong council (and hopefully a strong NEW mayor) to finally stand up and take back control of this situation in Danielsville.
Hopefully this will remind our community of past situations and citizens start asking "Why".
It is way past time, I think, to cut Junne Temple loose from the City Council. I don't think (and hope) She is a bad person, just a very misguided one. I believe that she will lose the election for Mayor, and if so she can be cut loose. I think many concerned citizens of our dear city of Danielsville have been involved in finding the truth of the way the council was and is being run. She is appearing to be the ONE CONSTANT in all problems that have come up.
We will see what transpires after the March 6th election is over, but hopefully she will be retired from any position in the City.