Another member of the Franklin City Council has resigned, meaning local Republican leaders will appoint a new member for the third time this year.
Keith Fox, who has been a city council member since 2016, is resigning as of today because he is moving out of the city.
He has served as an at-large member of the council, meaning he has been elected by all voters in the city, rather than representing a district.
The Johnson County Republican Party will plan a caucus to select his replacement. The 22 precinct committee members in the city will pick the next council member from candidates who apply.
A date for the caucus has not been set.
The new council member will serve on the seven-person board that approves city spending, annexations or zoning changes. Fox was elected in 2015, and the new council member will serve until his term expires at the end of 2019.
He and his wife are moving out of the city, back to the home where Fox was raised, he said.
Fox plans to continue his involvement in the city, such as by serving on a Franklin Development Corp. committee.
He is also a member of the redevelopment commission, and said he is proud of the work the groups have played a part in, specifically the infrastructure improvements in Franklin and the redevelopment of the Garment Factory and the former post office.
“Those are all proud moments that I’m lucky enough over the past two-and-a-half years to be involved with,” Fox said. “I walk away from the council being very proud of what we’ve accomplished and what I think will continue to be successes as we move forward.”
Fox is the third city council member to resign this year.
In January, longtime member Joe Ault resigned his District 1 seat due to public concern about a derogatory post he shared on Facebook. A caucus was conducted to replace him, and Stephen R. Brown was selected among five candidates. Brown’s 2016 arrest and criminal charge for domestic battery was not widely known until after he was appointed, and the president of the city council and a precinct committee member called for his resignation.
Danny Blankenship was selected to replace Brown.
In 2017, two Franklin officials were selected by caucus after then-Mayor Joe McGuinness resigned to become the commissioner of the Indiana Department of Transportation. Steve Barnett, a council member at the time, was selected to replace McGuinness. Bob Heuchan was then appointed to replace Barnett on the city council.
