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BUCHANAN — Three Buchanan city residents met Friday’s application deadline to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of Mayor Sean Denison Aug. 12. The deadline to apply was Friday afternoon at 4 p.m.

Buchanan City Clerk Kalla Langston reported that Raquell George, Tony Houser and Scott King have all applied to fill the Denison vacancy and the remaining two years of his unexpired term. Langston said a special city commission meeting will be held Friday, Sept. 6 at 5 p.m. at the Buchanan City Hall to interview the three candidates for the position.

Denison had served on the city commission since 2018 and had been mayor since late 2020. He said he was choosing to resign to focus on his health and his family and to enjoy life.

His decision came after a tumultuous several months for the city commission that included the suspension and resignation of City Manager Benjamin Eldridge, a censure vote against City Commissioner Dan Vigansky and dueling recall petitions against Vigansky and Denison.

While the Vigansky recall petition failed to garner enough signatures to force an election, the Denison recall did collect the required number of signatures and a recall election had been scheduled for this November before Denison’s resignation.

 Denison recall organizers cited Denison’s decision to suspend Eldridge without a commission vote which they said was not allowed under the City Charter. Denison would have faced King in the November recall.

King is a former City Commissioner who served from 1994-98, Houser owns a local restaurant and George is a newcomer to local politics. She is perhaps best known for singing the National Anthem at area commemorations including the Buchanan Memorial Day ceremony.

Houser ran for city commission two years ago in 2022 and filed to run for city commission again this year before the Denison vacancy came up. Others running for the two four-year commission seats this November are incumbents Larry Money and Patrick Swem as well as newcomers Lorilie Holmes and Angela Lowery.