It was May of 1983 and the City of Howe had just elected a new mayor named Jerry Kirby who ran on the platform of removing the position of city administrator. Kirby had defeated R.L. Cate on the April 2 election of that year and stated in the March 31, 1983 Howe Enterprise edition that he believed that the $19,000 per year salary of a city administrator was a luxury that he didn’t feel the Howe taxpayers needed and felt he, as mayor, along with the city council and city clerk could make up for the loss of the position.
Joe Fenton, who was the city administrator at the time immediately invited Kirby to city hall to show him the budget of half a million dollars that the city sent out and received. Fenton told him that if he took over, he would be accountable and responsible for every dollar of the million. That visit seemed to have changed the attitude and direction of his agenda.
Kirby’s first presiding city council meeting on April 21 became turbulent as then city council member Jack Berry had placed an executive session on the council agenda to help those new to the council to understand the “duties” of each of the 11 city employees. It became quite clear that the discussions were directed to Fenton and his position of city administrator. Fenton requested that any discussion of his position be done in open session.
Berry, who had many questions about street repair or the lack thereof, began to question Fenton and his abilities to manage a crew. That’s when Kirby stepped forward and said that he would take responsibility because he had Fenton on other jobs for the past 20 days. Back in those days, the city crew were also gathering trash which took up a lot of time.
Kirby told the council, “If the council will give me authority to operate the street department, I’ll take the flack.” Councilman Sam Haigis responded, “You already have the authority.”
The city council called for a special meeting on May 5, 1983, to discuss the position of city administrator. In a shocking and surprising turn of events, Mayor Kirby turned over his mayor seat to Mayor Pro Tem Duward Mills so he could take part in the debate and vote on the matter before the council.
The meeting which was to discuss keeping the position of city administrator and or Fenton drew a crowd of 71 (which is roughly 70 more than currently attend council meetings). Due to the large turnout, the meeting was moved from City Hall to the Howe Community Center (former First Christian Church).
The mayor opened the meeting with some ground rules on questioning and then gave a reason for the action he was about to take and told the audience that he had no idea how the city would conduct business as usual without an administrator and said the council is not prepared to take on duties and he could not guess who would do it.
“This matter is too important to just leave to guess, so I will relinquish my chair to the mayor pro tem and take my place with the council so I can vote on the outcome,” said Kirby.
At that point, several members of the community spoke in support of Fenton including Mamie Watson, J.R.L. Hill, Ellan Cate, R.L. Cate, Virginia Baker, Buddy Baker, Glen Van Blaricom, Kenneth Ping, Fire Chief Jerry Parks, Walter Schulz, Tim Buchanon, Don Gilstrap, Leon Thornhill, Deanna Helms, Don Seeyle, Howe City Secretary Marilee Vaughan, and Joe Wallace, former president of Howe State Bank.
Wallace said, “As a banker, I feel like a business as large as the city needs a head.”
He said the good credit rating of the city was at stake and said that his experience with Fenton had shown him that he was quite capable of handling the job.
At this point, councilman Berry asked for clarification as to what rule would allow for a mayor to become part of the council. Mayor Kirby then quoted from the Roberts’ Rules of Order, article 10 (City Ordinance Book – Chapter 1, Section 15, which sets up procedures of council meetings to be in accordance with Roberts’ Rules).
Recently it has been discovered that Fenton masterminded the Roberts’ Rule insertion with help from Joe Wallace.
“I’d like to tell all these people that doing away with this position will save $19,000, but it’s not going to happen,” said Kirby.
He said he had checked into prices for part-time advisory help and the best price he could get was one day a month for $10,000 a year. “In my opinion, that’s not good money spent,” said Kirby.
Kirby said he ran for mayor saying the City of Howe did not need an administrator, but he admitted, “I had also not been down to city hall one single time to see what his job is worth and if we can operate without a city manager.”
More than likely coming to the realization that without an administrator all of the work he hadn’t accounted for would fall in his lap. With his sudden turn-a-bout, Kirby added, “I took an oath that I would look after the business of this town to the best of my ability.” He said he has plans to get the streets fixed and get the sewer project going. “We need to get busy and do the business of the city.”
Most of the citizens at the meeting loudly applauded the mayor’s statement.
Fifty minutes into the meeting, Berry made a motion to convene into executive session. The council went to city hall for their deliberation, leaving the citizens who wished to wait at the Community Center.
At 9:23 the meeting reconvened with Kirby sitting as a member of the council. He made a motion that Fenton’s work record and his public relations record will be evaluated by the council and he will be held accountable for those actions as laid out in his instruction. The motion carried as three voted in favor: Kirby, Jim Huckaby, and Haigis.
Jack Berry later gave his reason for the no vote. “I voted my conviction at that time,” said Berry, who spoke with the Howe Enterprise soon afterward. “Once the council makes a decision we need to forget the past and pull together to get this town going.”
William “Sonny” Burns who also voted no on the motion said afterward that he hasn’t changed his mind since the election. In his statement in the Enterprise on March 31, “I can’t see why a city the size of Howe needs an administrator…”
Needless to say, things that were that heated led to turbulent relationships with city leaders. In January of 1984, Kirby left a note on Fenton’s desk telling him to fire the Electrical Inspector Ken Nicholas due to “being hard to get along with” and accusations of Nicholas being in trouble with the law in Southmayd. He then reportedly told the inspector that he “Ought to fire Fenton for showing you that letter.”
At a council meeting, Kirby denied the statements, stood up and removed his jacket and had to be calmed by councilmembers. He then told Nicholas, “What could interest you in a job that pays $5.00 and you have to drive 20 miles for?
After several members of the community spoke favorably for Nicholas, Kirby said he would retract the order to fire him.
“If we do have a personality conflict or whatever. Never have I questioned his work…I will yield to the witnesses of this man and retract that order,” said Kirby.
After calming words from the council, Mayor Kirby apologized and the two men shook hands.
In February of 1984, Kirby again became upset with Fenton over an electrical inspection issue and within two weeks, Fenton left Howe for a better opportunity with Whitesboro. Cannon George was hired to replace him in March, but after only two months, he turned in his resignation citing pressures contributing to health problems. He was replaced with Ray Houston in July of 1984 who resigned in October of the same year. He was replaced the same month by Dick Britton.
In July of 1986, Kirby resigned as mayor for “personal business reasons” and it was reported that the council reluctantly voted to accept the resignation. Marion Allison, mayor pro tem took over until Ray Bledsoe eventually took over as Mayor of Howe for the next 13 years during which Howe was sued by the City of Sherman for breach of sewer contract. During those years, Ray Houston returned as city administrator and “The Two Rays” were credited and blamed for much of the collapsing local economy.
Kirby still resides in Howe and can be found at Quick Check frequently. He is the brother of Howe’s legendary serviceman L.B. Kirby.
Fenton now lives in Muenster but is seen in Howe from time to time. He helped initiate the format of the Save the Church auction back in 2016 that raised over $25,000. It was modeled after a fundraiser annually held by the Fire Department of Muenster.
It’s been 35 years since this interesting era of Howe politics took place. Today, Howe’s current mayor, Jeff Stanley has been in office for nearly ten years, Howe’s City Administrator Joe Shephard has been here for eight years, and the city council works together for the best interest of the city. The current administration financially saved the city and its credit rating through the most difficult time. It’s a good time to live in Howe. When they look back at our era of city politics, it should be a shining example of how to get things moving in the right direction without the drama that can sometimes hamper a city. The only thing that is the same is that people will still complain about streets. That will never change.
This story was made possible by the outstanding journalism of Lana Rideout who captured the entire era flawlessly with deep passion, accuracy, and concern. Her accounts now forever capture and give reflection to the history of Howe.