ORANGE PARK – The town council selected Eddie Henley to fill the vacancy left behind by Ron Raymond following his death in October.

After narrowing down the list of 11 people to the top three during their Dec. 3 meeting, the council voted once more to determine who their top choice would be. Henley was selected with a 4-0 vote to fill Seat 1 left behind by Raymond. Henley is a 24-year resident of Orange Park who’s worked in public service for more than 37 years, including time in the military.

“I’ve been serving people all my adult life,” Henley said. “I want to be a unified voice for all the people of Orange Park. Whatever their desires or wishes are, I would like to be their instrument and I want to be a part of this unified council.”

Henley has run for a seat on the council several years ago and is expected to run for Seat 1 when he expires Raymond’s term next year. Council member Roland Mastandrea said before the deliberations that he would prefer to select someone who didn’t have plans to run for council next year so as not to give anyone an advantage in the campaign race.

“I don’t want to give anybody an advantage over anybody else,” Mastandrea said. “It should all be equal.”

Of the final three, which consisted of Henley, Larry Nichols and Winnette Sandlin, Nichols was the only candidate without plans to run for council next year. Mastandrea said he would have liked to have selected Nichols for this reason but in the end, he voted for Henley, likely to show a unified voice in the town’s decision.

Henley could have taken the seat that night but opted to wait for the first council meeting in January where he’ll be formally sworn in by the town.

In other business, the council voted 4-0 to approve an extension of a traffic camera contract with Verra Mobility. This extension will see the same red-light cameras in town operate for another three years with the inclusion of seven license plate readers at no added cost to be used at the Orange Park Police Department’s discretion.

OPPD Chief Gary Goble said the cameras can be used to search for a number of things such as license plates with warrants attached to them. If someone driving a vehicle that matches a warrant passes by one of these cameras, it will alert OPPD that a person with a warrant out has passed through the area, making tracking down that person a lot easier, Goble said.