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EMTT City Council accepts Mayor Dale W. Booker’s resignation; Sher Downing takes vacant council seat
Summary
At a special-called EMTT City Council meeting the council accepted Mayor Dale W. Booker’s resignation effective Feb. 26, 2026, appointed Sher Downing to fill a vacant council seat (she may vote immediately upon taking the seat), and announced an agreement on a city employee wage reached in executive session.
At a special-called meeting, the EMTT City Council accepted a letter of resignation from Mayor Dale W. Booker and appointed Sher Downing to fill a vacant council seat.
Reading a letter from Mayor Dale W. Booker, the chair said the mayor "submitted his resignation as mayor of EMTT effective February the 26th, 2026," and cited "ongoing health challenges" as the reason for stepping down. The council accepted the resignation by show of hands.
The resignation creates a vacancy from Councilman Rob Clark’s seat. Sher Downing told the council she wished to serve; a council member moved to appoint her and another seconded the motion. The council agreed she would take the seat that night and that she could vote immediately upon taking it, although she had not yet been sworn in. Council members said they had consulted Arkansas municipal law and local officials to confirm that immediate voting was permitted.
The council then moved into executive session. After returning to open session the chair reported the executive session had been to discuss a city employee wage and that the council "did come to an agreement and made a decision" on that matter. Council members said no other executive-session actions were taken; trash pickup was discussed but no decisions were made on that item.
The chair told the council that naming an acting mayor to serve the remainder of Booker’s term would be handled at the next regularly scheduled council meeting.
The meeting produced three formal outcomes on the public record: acceptance of the mayor’s resignation; appointment and seating of Sher Downing to fill the council vacancy; and an internal agreement on an employee wage reached in executive session. The council did not provide a numerical roll-call tally for the resignation vote, which was recorded as accepted by a show of hands.
The council did not set an acting mayor at this meeting; that decision will be on the agenda at the next regular meeting.
