MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Morgantown city councilman from the Third Ward, Zack Cruze abruptly tendered his immediate resignation to city officials Thursday morning.
Cruze was elected as a write-in candidate in 2019 and had recently taken an employment opportunity out-of-state.
“They have 30-days to reappoint in the event of a resignation,” Cruze said,” So, if I resigned before 30-days of the election then they would have to appoint, which I felt would interfere with the election, if they appointed someone that was running I thought it make for an unfair election.”
Cruze has been on deployment with the Federal Emergency Management Agency on and deployment and moved from his Jones Avenue home at the end of February. In his letter, Cruze made it clear he has a property until mid-April.
According to Cruze, the immediate resignation was triggered by complaint filed by the wife of former city councilman Ryan Wallace, Christine Wallace.
“She filed a complaint with the secretary of state, and honestly my intention was to make this as easy as possible and to create a fair election and I think her drawing attention to this will shadow our election.”
Cruze did take a moment to reflect on his time serving the Morgantown community.
“That was my entire reason for running for council, I wanted to allow for that voice of under represented people and I think I did that,” Cruze said,” That coupled with the Foster Parent Paid Leave Act are some of the things I’m really proud of.”