A Long and Tearful Goodbye

It was a city council meeting full of tearful thanks and goodbyes for exiting Bolivar Mayor Barrett Stevens and Council Members Willie McKinnie and Randy Hill on June 13.
“At this time, I want to thank all the citizens of Bolivar and my fellow council members for having me these last eight years as your mayor. I particularly want to thank the staff, department heads, and the employees of the City of Bolivar. Our success can be laid in this board and in the hands of these valued employees. In a few days, I’ll end my term as mayor,” began Stevens.
“And we’ve had a good transition, our mayor-elect is working real hard. He’s doing a great job. He helped put this new budget together and worked hard at it. He’s met with all our employees and department heads and I support him 100%.”
Mayor Stevens was overcome with emotion as he took a moment before turning to Mayor-Elect Julian McTizic and going on to say,
“Bolivar’s success depends upon what you do in the future. I support you and I’m going to do everything I can to continue to support Bolivar. Thank you and God bless you.”
Willie McKinnie fought back tears, stating, “I do appreciate being the representative for Chief (Pat) Baker and all the policemen and Chief (Lynn) Price and all the firemen. It was a great honor to represent you all. I want to say I thank God for blessing me to serve the citizens of Bolivar. It’s just been an honor. But most of all, it’s been a pleasure and a great honor to me to serve under Mayor Stevens. And I appreciate the work we have done together and the things that are still in the works. And I’m praying that God will use Mayor McTizic to carry forth and keep the progress going and that he will lead and guide you in everything you do.”
During the meeting, the council passed the 2017-2018 budget on the first reading. A synopsis of the budget is on A6.
Mayor-Elect Julian McTizic will begin his term in office July 1. McTizic defeated Stevens by a 653-580 margin in the May election. McKinnie was defeated by Jonathan Joy and Randy Hill elected not to run.