Governor Kay Ivey Appoints Karl Wiggins to Northport Council Seat

The Northport City Council is full again after Alabama Governor Kay Ivey appointed Karl Wiggins to fill a vacancy open there since the beginning of the year.

The sequence that led the vacancy began when former Mayor Bobby Herndon resigned from office late last year over a disagreement with his five-member city council.

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Albeit after some legal and procedural gymnastics, District 3 Councilman John Hinton replaced Herndon as Mayor in early 2023, and his seat on the council became vacant.

The council had 60 days to appoint a member to replace Hinton, but the remaining four members could not agree on who should hold the seat.

That passed the buck to Ivey, who legally had another 30 days to name a replacement -- a deadline that would have expired at the end of March.

On Wednesday, Ivey appointed Wiggins to the seat in a letter obtained by the Thread.

"By this letter, I hereby appoint you to the Northport City Council, effective immediately," her letter read. "You will serve as a representative of District 3."

Wiggins works in IT management for Randall Reilly, has lived in Northport since 1999 and raised four children there, all of whom graduated from Tuscaloosa County High.

He said his professional experience and involvement in his children's Scouting troops gave given him the ability to deal with difficult situations calmly and rationally.

"My reasoning for wanting to serve the city of Northport and District 3 in particular stems from a desire to see the city grow and prosper, and to do so in a way that improves life for the current residents as well as those in the future," he wrote. "I have a strong commitment to see the education and health systems in Northport improve, and to attract families and businesses to the area."

Wiggins will serve the rest of this term, which ends next year, and then decide whether to seek another four years in office in the next municipal election.