Sean Melvin is the new commissioner for the town of Garland, following the vacancy left by former Commissioner Antonio Garcia’s resignation.
Melvin was appointed by an unanimous vote during a special called board meeting Friday evening. Garland Mayor Pro Tem Carolyn Melvin first made the motion to vote Melvin in, which was seconded by Commissioner Barbara Peterson. After the vote, Melvin was sworn in as the town’s newest commissioner.
”I feel great being able to be on the board and help the town,” Sean Melvin stated. “Gotta move forward with everything they got planned and all the new ideas and ready to make everything work.”
Melvin revealed that one of his goals as a new commissioner is to see new businesses coming to Garland. While this is his first time serving as a commissioner, he said he had “familiarity” with the town of Garland and feels as if that will help with his transition to becoming a member of the board.
“I’ve been around for a long time, so I’m kind of familiar what goes on around here,” he explained. “I thank you all, everybody who came out and voted for me and trusted in me. Now it’s time for me to show you what I’m here to do. A new quest for Garland.”
Garland Mayor Ralph Smith Jr. acknowledged the loss of Garcia following the meeting. Garcia had given his resignation letter to the board, which was accepted at the beginning of the meeting. He resigned due to moving outside the town limits.
“I hate it for him. He’s moved out of town,” the mayor said. “I talked to him earlier in the week when he told me he was going to submit a resignation before he did. He said that he needed a larger house and his family was expanding and that he had moved out of town and regretfully he was going to have to tender his resignation. I wish him nothing but the best in the future.”
Mayor Smith also gave his thoughts regarding the appointment of Commissioner Melvin.
“I’ve known Sean for many years. He’s a good guy. The board that I’m super proud of, I say it all the time, they gave this considerable thought and they decided to go back to the next man in line in the vote. I think it was a nine-vote difference between him and Garcia. So they were both up there. It’s the right thing to do. Hopefully we don’t have to do another one this year. If we do, we’ll do something probably a little different. We want them to get in as early as they can and being sort of a new term.”
In other business at Friday night’s meeting, the board also elected a chairman for the planning board, along with a planning board member in a unanimous vote, with Chancey Philips as chairman and Brandon Smith as the board member.
Phillips said he was excited about the opportunity to serve as chairman of the planning board. “I think that Brandon and myself are going to find some people, hopefully knowledgeable people, if not we’ll get them educated for the planning board members,” he stated. “We’re excited about working for the town, bringing in possibly new businesses, food trucks and just helping the town grow and serving the people of our community. We’re new and young blood and I think that’s what Garland needs and we’re gonna just see what comes. We’ve got some ideas moving forward and we have the citizens’ best interest at heart. We’re going to be fair across the board, we’re going to be by the book but it’s going to be fair to everybody. We look forward to serving our citizens and listening to their concerns as well.”
“I feel privileged to be able to serve the town of Garland and look forward to being able to better serve the town of Garland in this role and hopefully make decisions that will better Garland for years to come,” Brandon Smith added. “I think we have a bright future. We just opened up the DMV building on Monday. That’s going to be a major benefit to the town and the county and the surrounding counties. Hopefully we can continue that trend and see what tomorrow holds. We’re preliminary in this role so I don’t want to promise the sun and the moon, but I do hope that the decisions we make can better serve our citizens in our town.”
Only Commissioner Austin Brown was absent from the special meeting Friday.