Alvin King and William Curry have become staples in Linden politics for years. Tuesday night, they said their thank yous and farewells at their last Linden City Council meeting as public officials.

“It’s been a great experience,” said Alvin “Butch” King, who was appointed Linden’s mayor after Roy “Pat” Vice died in June while in office. King had previously served 16 years a council representative

William Curry has been a Linden councilman for nearly eight years.

“We’ve seen this city come together recently, and I am proud to have been able to see that,” said Curry. “It’s been fun; we’ve had a lot of good times.”

Curry was defeated in the city election by Richard Lankster for the District 3 City Council representative spot.

King chose not to run for re-election in the Aug. 26 the city elections. Mitzi Gates was elected mayor and will take office Nov. 3. She has been the District 2 City Council representative.

“Linden elected a good person for mayor,” King said of his successor. “Mitzi will work hard for the city.”

In his last remarks as councilman, Curry praised city administrator Cheryl Hall.

“It is amazing to me how everyone has gotten along on the council,” said King. “We may disagree at times, but we have never gotten into a fight that I can remember.”

The new city council, including newcomers Lankster and Michael Carlisle, who was elected to District 2’s vacated seat, will meet on Monday, Nov. 3. It will be a combined organizational meeting and regular board meeting, which was changed from Nov. 4.

Other actions taken at the Linden City Council meeting included:

The city council voted to return a car that was confiscated in a drug raid this summer back to the vehicle’s owner and pay for damages sustained to the vehicle while in the city’s possession.

Linden police chief Scott McClure asked the council to pay for $1304 in damages to the mother of a suspect who was arrested in the raid this past August. The vehicle’s side window was knocked out and a car radio was stolen a couple of weeks after the car was confiscated by Linden police.

“It was damaged while in our possession and it’s our responsibility,” McClure said.

McClure also told the council that one suspect was arrested for the damages to the car and theft of the radio.

If the owner of the vehicle had prior knowledge that her son would possibly use the car to sell drugs, the vehicle could have remained in possession of the city and police department. Since that could not be proven the car had to be returned.

The city council was notified that Mediacom, which provides cable TV services to the Linden area, is raising their rates for basic broadcast service by $3. Council members complained this is the third increase by Mediacom this year.