Sturgis’ new government starting to take shape

STURGIS, Ky. (WFIE) - The city of Sturgis is one step closer to rebuilding its government.

A special meeting was held Tuesday evening as the town’s lone city councilperson, Billy Adams, doubled the size of the government by appointing Theresa Greer as the second replacement councilperson.

[Previous story: Financial ruin forces entire Sturgis City Council to resign]

There are still more questions than answers, as the town looks to rebuild its government from the ground up, all with looming debt that will eventually come due.

“Everybody talks about the gorilla in the room, this is the elephant in the room,” said Adams. “If you try to look at the whole thing. This task becomes extremely overwhelming, so you start taking small bites.”

The meeting to appoint Greer didn’t even last 30 seconds.

She says conversations between herself and Adams centered around their love for the city and their desire to keep it from dissolving.

“I love Sturgis, and it just breaks my heart that we’re in the shape we’re in, but we’re going forward,” Greer said. “That’s all we can do is go forward and do the best we can.”

Greer and Adams will now host the next meeting, set for Thursday evening, where they will appoint the next councilperson. Those meetings will continue through next Friday, with the goal of having the whole council filled by then.

“We’ve got to build this thing and get it up to where we have six council people and a mayor,” Adams said.

Rebuilding a city’s government this way is something Adams says has never happened before in Kentucky, but that’s the task at hand.

“Get it financially stable, that’s our end goal,” Adams said. “It’s got to be, it’s just got to be.”

The newly appointed council will serve through 2024, with all of the seats set to be on the November 2024 ballot. Whoever is appointed mayor will serve through 2026 as things currently stand.

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