Tonight, the Bowie City Council voted to make a job offer to one of the previous city manager candidate finalists, Bert Cunningham, a hometown resident and longtime Bowie businessman. The action was taken after a 40-minute executive session. Mayor Gaylynn Burris asked Cunningham to stay for a moment after the meeting. There was a near unanimous vote with Councilor Arlene Bishop the lone no vote.

Also discussed during executive session was the the potential sale of the acreage owned by the city at the corner of U.S. 287 and FM 1125. The council gave unanimous approval to allowing the mayor to gauge realtor interest in brokering the property.

Earlier in the meeting, Chuck Malone, former councilor from the south ward, was appointed to fill in the vacancy of Douglas Boyd who resigned earlier last week. He will serve until the term ends in November. Councilor Bishop asked the mayor why they did not accept names for the position instead of selecting an appointee and Burris responded they do not have to take names.

Read the full story from tonight’s meeting in the weekend News.