Photo by Alan Olson Councilman Allen Hendershot is selected as Moundsville’s mayor for 2018 during Tuesday’s council meeting.

MOUNDSVILLE — City council selected Councilman Allen Hendershot as Moundsville’s mayor and Councilman Phil Remke as vice mayor for 2018 on Tuesday, in a meeting that also saw the city fill its much-discussed recreation director vacancy.

Hendershot, a former Moundsville city manager who was elected to council in 2014, was chosen mayor by unanimous vote during council’s final meeting of 2017, with Remke also unanimously confirmed. Current Mayor Eugene Saunders had also nominated Councilman David Haynes for the position of mayor, but his motion did not receive a second.

Hendershot said Saunders and current Vice Mayor Dave Wood — who also previously served as mayor — have laid a good foundation for the city, and he is looking forward to the coming year, during which he expects Moundsville to see some growth.

“I’m pleased it was unanimous. I think that shows the council is looking to support some of our initiatives,” Hendershot said of his selection. “The new comprehensive plan and the changes to the zoning are real important, and I think we’re poised for growth here in Moundsville. We’ve quietly laid the groundwork for that — they’ve been very active and have done a lot, and I think we can continue. Moundsville’s in a good spot.”

Also introduced to council was Rico Coville, hired by the city as the new parks and recreation director after several weeks of discussion, debate and a failed proposal to contract with the county to fill the role. Coville has worked with Oglebay Park in Wheeling for 27 years as a manager and assistant director.

“It’s going to take some time. There’s a lot of things that need repaired, so we’ll take them one thing at a time and see where we can make improvements,” Coville said.

Coville hit the ground running, presenting his thoughts to council on the Four Seasons Pool — one of the major points of contention with the recreation department. Coville pointed out that in addition to the dehumidification system being in dire need of repairs, the pool’s heater also is having problems keeping the water above 72 degrees.

He said the repair company would try to get the temperature fixed, but in the meantime the pool has seen fewer swimmers.

“There were a couple people who came and swam yesterday, and no one — aside from one gentleman — who came to swim today,” Coville said. “The (John Marshall High School) swim team has not been there. They did outside activities yesterday and were not there today. They have a meet tomorrow, but if I’m not mistaken, the water temperature has to be higher than it is for a meet — so I’m not sure what they’ll do, but it won’t be held here.”

A motion to bring the pool’s repair issues before council’s finance committee in January failed in a 2-4 vote, with Councilwoman Ginger DeWitt and Saunders voting in favor and Haynes, Hendershot, Wood and Remke opposed. Councilwoman Judy Hunt was absent from the meeting.

DeWitt made her frustration with the vote known.

“This is why we sit and get nothing done, and why we’ll continue to get nothing done for this pool,” she said.