Will W.S. keep a city marshal?

Voters in Willow Springs will decide next week whether or not to keep the city marshal as an elected position. Current city ordinances assign two duties to a city marshal: attending city council meetings and providing security at municipal court proceedings. As previously reported by Howell County News, the position does not earn a stipend. 

 

Willow Springs has not had a city marshal in practice since the retirement of former Police Chief Bryan Hogan in 2022. Legally, his term ended in April 2025. The city did not accept candidate filings for the position or put it on a 2025 ballot. When the term ended, the position virtually ceased to exist in Willow Springs. 

 

Since 2022, duties assigned by ordinance to the city marshal have been carried out by Chief Wes Ellison and other members of the Willow Springs Police Department. Eliminating the city marshal position will not affect Ellison’s position as chief. Chief of Police is not currently an elected position in Willow Springs. Rather, it is approved by the city council, often with input from a search committee. 

 

Under the ordinance in its current form, the city marshal may be appointed as chief of police by the mayor, subject to approval of the council. Any POST-certified registered Willow Springs voter could run for this office, but that does not mean the winner of the election is the police chief. 

 

 As previously reported by the News, in early 2025, the board of aldermen intended to remove the city marshal position via ordinance re-codification. Leaving the position off the April 2025 ballot was more of an oversight than an action intended to eliminate the office legally.

 

In the intervening months, the aldermen have reaffirmed their intention to remove it.

 

City Attorney Zane Privette and City Administrator Beverly Hicks researched the best way under the law to accomplish it. They found that the manner in which the city marshal position was first instituted in Willow Springs determines whether the aldermen may remove the position via ordinance or by a vote of the people.

 

When a thorough search of the town records did not reveal a definitive answer as to how a city marshal position originally came to be in Willow Springs,  Hicks advised the council to put it to a vote of the people. 

“We have decided that we need to put the question to the voters, to be able to appoint a chief of police who performs the duties,” Hicks told the aldermen in December 2025. “The ballot question is the best way to proceed based on the information available.”

 

At the polls on Tuesday, a YES vote will assign the city marshal duties to chief of police. A NO vote will retain city marshal as an elected position in Willow Springs. 

 

See the complete ballot language CLICK HERE.