News editor
Mayor Delores Dalke wasted no time filling a council seat vacated Monday by Shelby Dirks, swearing in Brent Driggers at Tuesday’s meeting to represent the west ward.
Dirks notified Dalke of his resignation by email.
“With the recent sale of my house, I have moved outside of the ward which I represented. Consequently I must resign as West ward council member for the City of Hillsboro,” Dirks wrote.
Dalke said she compiled a list of possible replacements, and after weighing her options settled on Driggers.
“It’s everything about him,” she said. “He’s a very intelligent man, he’s very much of a family man with all of their children, including the ones they have adopted, and he’s very much involved with his church, and I thought he’d make a very good council person with that background.”
Driggers, his wife, Jamie, and children, Josiah, 15, Abigail, 14, Andrew, 12, Jerusalem, 10, and Seth, 8, moved back to Hillsboro about five years ago from the Kansas City area. Driggers said they wanted to raise their children near family. They attend Hillsboro Mennonite Brethren Church.
Driggers has a home-based company, Jetset Media, that provides digital signage to private airports. He also is doing some consulting for his father, Darrell, at Container Services.
The council position is the first foray into politics for Driggers, who said he comes in with a clean slate.
“I really do not have any agenda or things I’ve predetermined that I want to address,” he said.
Primed to sell
The end of an eyesore and nuisance may be in sight, as the owners of the former Prime Time convenience store are negotiating a purchase agreement with a potential buyer, administrator Larry Paine said.
The buyer plans to remove the dilapidated building, canopy, and gas tanks, Paine said. He gave no indication what the lot might be used for.
Coucil took condemnation action against the property in November and met in January with a contractor hired to repair the facility. Work was discontinued shortly thereafter, and the owners proved difficult to communicate with.
Paine said the potential buyer has been made aware of the condemnation, which will transfer to the buyer upon completion of the sale. They will be given adequate time to address the property’s problems, and the city will be in a position to take action should they fail to do so, Paine said.
In other action:
- Council discussed a proposed indoor practice facility for Tabor College baseball and softball teams that would be situated over a water main serving the east water tower. Not enough information was available to determine what options would be for relocating the main, but council approved going ahead with engineering studies at a future date.