Keith Wasson of Roland was selected to the top spot among three other candidates for the job, including Bill Reather of Muldrow, Charles "Bud" Baker of Gore, and Matthew McKinney of Roland. All four were interviewed during a special Friday meeting.
On Tuesday, after nearly 45 minutes in executive session to discuss the sole agenda item, the council emerged to vote three to two in favor of hiring Wasson.
J.R. Crowson made the motion to hire Wasson at a starting pay of $45,000 per year, and Vice Mayor Greg Wilson seconded that motion. Mayor Monty Lenington voted in favor of hiring Wasson, while B.J. Bramlett and Bill Ed Brooks voted against the motion. Crowson noted that the council would re-evaluate the situation in the future and, if it permits, increase or decrease Wasson's pay.
Wasson said he was in the banking business for 25 years before going into business for himself. He has been self-employed for the past 15 years at various businesses, currently Sequoyah Trailer Sales in Roland.
Wasson attended college at the University of Oklahoma in Norman and moved to Roland in 1980. He and his wife have three children, two sons who live in Liberty and a daughter who lives in Roland.
Wasson replaces Charles Day, whom the council suspended without pay on Sept. 28. While the council would not give a reason for Day's suspension, Day has been named as a suspect in a sheriff's office investigation. A former female inmate has claimed that she had sexual contact with Day on several occasions while she was in the town's jail, according to an affidavit for an August search warrant.
The woman allegedly told a sheriff's investigator that she agreed to have sex with Day because she felt that it would allow her to stay in the city jail instead of being transferred to the county jail and that it would earn her extra privileges as an inmate.
The case against Day has been submitted to the district attorney's office for review, but no charges have been filed against him.
