Glenville Twigg |
Former Martinsburg City Councilman Glenville Twigg said Monday that everybody has “skeletons in their closet” and he hopes voters do not make an issue of one of his in the upcoming municipal election.
Twigg, who filed Monday as a candidate for the Ward 5 City Council seat he once held, pleaded no contest in 2010 to one misdemeanor count of battery after being accused of hitting a woman with a wooden club at Twiggy’s Subs, his former business.
“What I went through with Tammy Snow was a bad situation,” Twigg said.
Twigg, 66, was fined $50 and ordered to pay court costs as part of a plea agreement reached with the Berkeley County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office to resolve charges filed against him after the April 2008 incident.
A misdemeanor count of assault was dismissed.
In a preliminary hearing in Berkeley County Magistrate Court, Snow testified that she was struck twice with a wooden club at 110 N. Centre St. on April 24, 2008. The business has closed.
Snow testified during the 2008 hearing that she went to the store to talk to Twigg about why he supposedly called her adult-age sons “drug addicts” and “bums” while they were attempting to purchase food with a food stamp debit card.
After calling Twigg on the phone, Snow testified that he told her to come to the store if she wanted to discuss what happened with her sons.
When she arrived there, an argument ensued, which was followed by an altercation, according to court records.
Twigg said the incident was “one of the unfortunate things that’s happened” to him.
Before being defeated for re-election in 2004 by the late Frank Idoni, Twigg said he represented Ward 5 residents for 10 years and Ward 4 residents for four years before that.
In the 2008 municipal election, Twigg finished last among candidates for two at-large council seats.
“I’ve missed it,” Twigg said when asked why he was running. “I’m looking to get back to it.”
Twigg filed as a Republican and acknowledged he changed political parties in 2010. City Recorder Gena Long said she was still verifying the petition signatures Twigg submitted as part of filing requirements.
As of Monday, no one else had filed for the Ward 5 seat.
Council candidates must file a petition with 25 valid signatures and pay a $2 filing fee.
All seven council members and the mayor are elected to four-year terms. Mayoral candidates must file a petition with 50 signatures and the filing fee is $10.
The mayor is paid $6,000 annually and is entitled to insurance benefits.
Five council members are elected from individual wards, and two are elected to at-large seats in a citywide vote. They are paid $2,400 annually and are entitled to insurance benefits.
The filing period continues through Feb. 28, but Long cautioned candidates against filing at the last minute due to the verification process for the signature petitions.
Petitions that lack the required number of signatures after the verification process cannot be corrected after the filing deadline has passed, according to Long.
For more information about the city election, call Long at 304-264-2131, ext. 273, or send an email to glong@cityofmartinsburg.org.
