The announcement from Dan Cogan, Bedford’s mayor, was not a surprise, but it was sudden.  It was toward the end of May 14th’s city council meeting when he stated, “Yesterday was an interesting day” because he had resigned from his day job.

“I made a promise to the residents, a promise to Council,” Cogan explained to his colleagues and those in the audience with a slight nervousness and tone of excitement, that if he won re-election, he would leave his teaching career with the Hurst-Euless-Bedford Independent School District to become a full-time mayor.  And so,” he declared, “I put in my resignation yesterday,” on May 13th.

Further addressing those in the meeting, he said, “It was one of those moments where I realized, you know, it was the ending of one chapter and the beginning of another.”

“I knew that that was his intention,” said newly elected Council Member Joy Donovan Brandon.  “I think it’s a bonus to the City of Bedford to have a mayor that is so available.”

Council Member Rich Steves said the decision “was a very personal one between Dan and his family, but I’m happy for him.”  Steves added that “Mayor Cogan did a good job while working full-time and serving as a council member and, as a ‘full-time’ mayor, I expect he will be able to do even better.”

“It was an easy decision,” Cogan said later through an email exchange.  His intention, he said, was that if he ran for mayor, he would only want to do it full time.  That “is what the City needs and the residents deserve,” he stated.

As a full-time educator but part-time mayor, he further explained, “it was very hard to step away from the class even to make a phone call, let alone hold meetings.”  He said that many other mayors with full-time jobs have “flexibility” that a teacher does not have.

The municipal government, in Bedford’s case, as well as many other area cities, operates on a Council-Manager system where the Council is an elected part-time legislative body that sets policy.  The Council, however, does not traditionally have direct control over day-to-day operations, which is typically handled by the city manager.  Other than a recently adopted $1-a-month stipend, as outlined in the City Charter, the the mayor and the other council members serve as unpaid volunteers.

As a part-time mayor, Cogan’s responsibilities, as stated in the Charter, already include leading the council meetings, attending official ceremonies, appointing and removing the city manager, establishing departments, distributing the work of divisions, authorizing the issuance of bonds, checking on and investigating “municipal affairs,” adopting the annual budget and appointing residents to serve on boards and commissions.