Their mayor died in September. But they liked him so much, they reelected him anyway
Lots of towns could claim to love their mayors, but few would probably want them to continue leading from beyond the grave.
But that’s what happened in the small borough of Houtzdale, Penn., this November after Camille “Bud” George was reelected as mayor — despite passing away in early September at the age of 89, reported WJAC.
George, who served as a longtime Democratic state representative before becoming mayor of the borough, was on the ballot for the 2017 mayoral election when he died in early September, leaving the borough without a mayor. The council decided to wait until the upcoming election to see who voters would pick in a write-in, but acknowledged at the time that it was likely George would still win, reported the The Progress News in October.
And that’s exactly what happened.
Houtzdale received 49 votes in the election, one more than Robert Hanna, the write-in candidate, according to results posted on the Clearfield County website. Other candidates received smaller shares of the write-in vote.
“It touches my heart,” Candace Lane, Bud’s daughter, told the Altoona Mirror. “I think the people just wanted to show him some respect by voting for him one last time.”
“He was a remarkable public servant, and I understand why people would want to vote for him as a way of honoring his service and legacy,” Daniel Nelson, solicitor for Houtzdale Borough, told the Altoona Mirror.
George, a World War II veteran, was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1975 to represent the 74th District ,and then reelected 18 more times before retiring. He returned to his hometown of Houtzdale and was elected mayor, decades after starting his political career as a local city councilor and mayor in the 1960s, according to his obituary, published in the Progress News.
He was known as a fierce legislator who was passionate about the environment and his community, reported WJAC. “He was in the government, the state government, and then when he retired from there, that year he actually became our mayor,” Zachary Bloom, a Houtzdale Borough councilman, told the station “And since then he's fought to do the same things that he did in the state, just on a smaller level.”
Despite the borough’s vote, the vacancy will actually need to be filled by a living person, Houtzdale solicitor Daniel Nelson told the Altoona Mirror, and will begin working on that process after voting to advertise the position, he told the paper.
This story was originally published November 21, 2017 at 1:09 PM with the headline "Their mayor died in September. But they liked him so much, they reelected him anyway."