HANCEVILLE — Hanceville city leaders held their first municipal meeting without the leadership of former Mayor Kenneth Nail, who resigned from office earlier this month following a guilty plea to local misdemeanor charges of using his office for personal gain.

Thursday’s meeting of the Hanceville City Council was the council’s first since Nail pleaded guilty on Dec. 19, to 15 identical counts of the charge, all of which stemmed from a local indictment that was launched in the wake of an earlier state ethics investigation into complaints concerning the four-term mayor’s conduct.

Nail resigned from office on the same day that he entered his plea, and the council accepted and approved his resignation at this week’s meeting — though Nail himself was not present. The council concurrently removed Nail from all city financial accounts and revoked his signatory authority to represent the city, a necessary measure that always attends a change in municipal leadership.

In seconding the motion to accept Nail’s resignation letter, councilmember Jimmie Nuss noted that he did so “with regret” — though council members offered no additional commentary on the topic.

In a later portion of the meeting, councilmember John Stam informally requested that the city’s departmental leaders attend upcoming council meetings, to better apprise the council on ongoing public projects that Nail typically had monitored and assisted with from day to day.

“With the mayor gone, it’s hard for us to keep up with all he was doing with public works; he was usually on top of that,” said Stam, adding that he’d “like to see the supervisors attending” council meetings in the future to bridge the current gap in relating up-to-date information that Nail’s service as a liaison between city departments and council members once filled.

In other business, the council:

• Approved the rezoning of a piece of property along Shady Lane Drive SW from R-1 residential to R-3 residential to accommodate new construction of a duplex apartment developed by San Giuseppe, LLC, a local owner.
• Approved payment from the city for an approximate $4,000 project to install new cabinetry at the Hanceville Public Library, which is operated under the Cullman County Public Library system. The library is expected to reimburse the city for the funds once a grant for which it has applied has been finalized.
• Approved the minutes of the council’s Dec. 14 regular meeting.
• Hanceville City Hall will be closed in observance of the New Year’s holiday on Monday, Jan. 1. The council’s next meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 11 in the council meeting room at city hall. A public 5 p.m. work session will precede the meeting at the same location.