HOT SPRINGS – The mayor of Hot Springs, who faced a recent petition drive for her resignation, has decided to leave the post.
Renea Keough is in Florida to receive training at a school for the blind. She sent an e-mail to Town Hall saying she couldn’t return to Hot Springs for at least six months and her duties should be turned over to someone else, town clerk Julie Lazaro said.
Lazaro said that after the town council receives a signed copy of Keough’s e-mailed intentions and acts on it, it will have 30 days to appoint a new mayor.
Council president Trudy Berge is serving as interim mayor in Keough’s absence.
Residents who petitioned for Keough’s resignation said they were concerned about the mayor’s ability to perform her duties after she lost her sight. They also were angered after the town hired the mayor’s boyfriend, an admitted felon with no driver’s license, as animal control officer.
Keough has said she removed herself from the interviewing and hiring process for that job, and her boyfriend, Marco Angelletti, was the only applicant.
Hot Springs is about 60 miles northwest of Missoula.