RIDGEWAY – Ridgeway Mayor Heath Cookendorfer has resigned after nine years in the town government. His resignation will be effective Dec. 29, after his final town council meeting of the year.
Cookendorfer said he is resigning for personal reasons and will be moving back to his hometown in Kentucky by the end of the year.
“I have truly enjoyed serving the town and working with the people here in Ridgeway,” Cookendorfer said. “While I am moving on, I am pleased to say that the town hall is well-manned now. We have a new part time administrator and a new town clerk who, I know, will be a big help to the new mayor and council.
“I loved it here, but I’m looking forward to returning to my roots,” he said. “That’s something I think everyone really wants to do at some time in their life. I wish the town well and I know it has a bright future.”
Mayor Pro Tem Don Prioleau will be serving as interim mayor until the election in April.
Cookendorfer was first elected to office in 2014, when he ran as a write-in candidate for the Ridgeway Town Council. In 2018, he won the mayor’s seat with a 10-point margin.
He won re-election as mayor in 2022, in a deeply divided race, when he and two candidates for town council ran as a block and won as a block.
Since the town’s next regular election will happen in April, 2024, Fairfield County Voter Registration Director Jackie Beaver said there will be no need to hold a special election to fill the mayor’s post.
The Election will be held April 2, 2024. The filing opens at 12:00 noon on January 22, 2024. It closes at 12:00 noon on Friday, February 2, 2024. Two Council seats are open as well.
