Cockayne, a second-term Republican, also said that he would pick someone else to serve as acting mayor for the city after Jan. 11. He gave no indication whom he might select.
Cockayne said he is acting mayor now as "a result of circumstances and nothing more." He just happened to be acting mayor this month, on a schedule that has rotated among the council, month by month.
He said he has "no intention" to serve indefinitely or "to impose any agenda, mine or otherwise" on city government during the absence of Mayor Art Ward.
Ward remains in intensive care at Bristol Hospital. He is in critical but stable condition. There has been no formal word from the mayor's family or doctors about his prognosis.
Cockayne said he has "reached out" to the entire council in recent days to discuss how best to handle the situation. He said that "some have chosen not to return my calls."
Matthews was chosen by Ward to serve as acting mayor this month. Her name is on the appointments list that Ward approved before his Dec. 4 collapse. McCauley is the senior Democratic councilor.
Cockayne said in his statement tonight that to "maintain consistency" he would use his power as the acting mayor to revoke Matthews' appointment.
He said he will stay on through Jan. 11 and then pick "another council member" as acting mayor if Ward has not returned.
Cockayne said he will rely on the good will of his colleagues and "together we will roll up our sleeves and do the city's business the best we can."
Cockayne said he will "pray for the quick recovery of the mayor" and expressed his "sincere hope that he makes a full recovery and returns to work as quickly as possible."
You can see Cockayne's entire statement on a PDF here.
I'll try to post the reaction to Cockayne's comments in a little while.
****Copyright 2010. All rights reserved. Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
7 comments:
MR all talk no action is the MAYOR its like ward never left. We need a real leader not ART or KEN NEITHER WILL GET THE JOB DONE.
Well, we don't need a real village idiot. 10:03 PM is getting the job done (and doing a hell of a job I might add!).
Ken playing Mayor just to exercize the "Power" of the chair to feed his ego.
Ed Krawicki should resign and take the rest of corp counsel with him. It is clear he is not representing the council as a whole. He is only representing Ken Cockayne and has a very clear bias against democratic leaders. last night's fiasco proved it. as for Ken Cockayne, he needs to stop playing politics, as he so likes to blame everyone else of doing, and do the right thing, but he obviously doesn't know how to do the right thing. Shame on you, Ken and Ed!!
Merry Christmas to all, Democrats and Republicans alike! Let the spirit of the season live in your hearts. Ken is taking care of the city and Art is getting better. Let's all come together in January with cooperation and generosity. Peace.
I am god . Cockayne!
don't underestimate bristol.
i am not good with cockayne.
he thinks that by screaming the loudest we will believe that he is telling the thruth about things. he must think that most of bristol's citizens have no idea of what we want or why we voted for Mayor Ward.
as always, cockayne, you are wrong!
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