PRINCETON, W.Va. — The City of Princeton selected a familiar face as their new mayor following the sudden resignation of former Mayor Dewey Russell.
The Princeton City Council voted to elect former Vice-Mayor David Graham. He told MetroNews affiliate WJLS that he and City Council plan to keep pushing forward from the previous mayor’s leadership.
“We’re kind of already groomed and set to roll with the previous mayor’s plans”, said Graham. “I don’t have a personal agenda. I think the best thing for us to do is just continue down the path that was previously set.”
The Princeton native admitted that before becoming vice-mayor, he did not have plans to get involved in local politics.
“I was raised in Princeton, and I lived outside of town for a few years and moved back into town in the late 90’s. I always had a deep concern for Princeton but I was never really a civic-minded person.”
His first action as mayor was to elect a new vice-mayor. He nominated City Council member Tim Ealy. Once elected, Graham says they completed their first milestone together.
The City of Princeton has been looking at options for a new city hall. The council acquired the former Dean Company Building located along Stafford Drive.
“Our primary concern, get our architect hired which is what we did last night. So we can move on with relocating our City Hall.”
Graham complimented his fellow council members, saying they helped him to feel welcome to local politics. He looks forward to working with them from this point forward as mayor.
“The passion of the council members and their desire to move Princeton forward, progress in the downtown area, bring in new businesses and expand the footprint of Princeton. All of those topics just really tweaked my desire to remain on council.”
The Princeton City Council will meet this Monday afternoon at 4 to sign the agreement to take over the former Dean Company Building.
A construction timeline for the new City Hall is unknown at this time.