Bunceton has a new mayor, and it isn’t a name most residents would have guessed a year ago. The city council has appointed Dante Freeman, a sitting Bunceton alderman, to fill the seat left open when longtime Mayor Justin Hein resigned back in May.
Hein’s exit came as a surprise. He had just won reelection on April 7 — by nine write-in votes, since nobody had actually filed to run against him — and then stepped down five weeks later after 15 years in the job. The city didn’t give a public reason for the resignation, according to ABC 17 News, which reported the council would take applications from anyone willing to call city hall or talk to a sitting council member.
That search ended with Freeman, who was already serving as an alderman when the council turned to him. According to the Boonville Daily News, the city’s announcement put it simply: “He was an asset as alderman and we are confident he will lead us well as our mayor.”
Freeman’s move up leaves an alderman’s seat open, and Bunceton wants to fill it the same way it filled the mayor’s chair — by asking around town rather than waiting for the next election. Residents interested in the seat can raise their hand at the city council’s next meeting, set for Tuesday, August 11, at 7 p.m.
For a town this size, one resignation can reshuffle half the board, and that’s roughly what’s happened here over the past three months: a mayor’s chair and, soon, an alderman’s seat, both changing hands outside the usual election calendar. It’s a reminder that in small-town Missouri government, showing up to the meeting is often the whole process.
If you’ve got an opinion on how Bunceton should run — streets, budget, whatever it is — Tuesday night at 7 is the on-ramp.
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