MORGANTOWN — Morgantown City Councilor Zack Cruze resigned his 3rd Ward seat on Thursday.
The remainder of council now has 30 days to fill the vacancy. Failure to do so will trigger a special election.
In an email explaining his decision to members of council, Cruze noted “objections have been raised from Canada” — a reference to Ryan and Christine Wallace.
Ryan Wallace held the 3rd Ward seat before Cruze, and, like Cruze, had to end his time on council due to a move. Wallace moved to Toronto. Cruze is moving to California.
Unlike Cruze, Wallace was able to finish his only term in the seat, but halted his reelection effort too near Election Day to remove his name from the ballot. Cruze ended up winning the seat, and in so doing became the first write-in candidate elected to council.
On Jan. 5, Cruze announced that he would resign in March as he had to relocate after accepting a position with FEMA.
A little over a month later, Cruze amended that plan, explaining he intended to stay on until April 6.
Doing so would allow the remaining six members of council to appoint the 3rd Ward winner of the April 27 municipal election to complete the remainder of Cruze’s term before beginning their own two-year term on July 1.
In a resignation letter to City Manager Kim Haws, Cruze explained that he planned to stay on until the first week of April “to assist in continuity of government and to do my part to assist with ensuring a fair election could take place for the 3rd Ward seat without bias being created by an appointed seat.”
But he goes on to state that he would immediately resign if there was any concern from the public.
“I would like to add for the record (as previously discussed) I am still under lease with a West Virginia residence until mid-April and, as many of you were aware, have been flying back and forth from CA to WV for the past couple months under federal deployment status,” Cruze explained, noting his residence of record is on Jones Avenue.
Christine Wallace said she wrote to members of council on Thursday regarding the 3rd Ward after reading and hearing past media reports detailing Cruze’s plans and seeing social media posts indicating he had already moved.
Wallace said she copied the West Virginia Secretary of State’s Office on the email but did not file a complaint or request an investigation.
There will be no candidates on the ballot representing the 3rd Ward in the upcoming election. There are, however, two write-in candidates — Paul Liller and Ixya Vega.
