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Jeff Miller appointed to City Council

Miller Former council member Jeff Miller is sworn in to fill a vacant seat on City Council.

By Amy McCraw, Published: November 3, 2023

Hendersonville’s City Council on Thursday appointed former council member Jeff Miller to fill a seat on council left vacant when member Jerry Smith resigned in October.


“Let’s go to work,” Miller said shortly after being sworn into the office during the council’s regular monthly meeting.
Mayor Barbara Volk, Mayor Pro Tem Lyndsey Simpson and council member Jennifer Hensley voted in favor of Miller after Hensley nominated him for the job.
Council member Debbie O’Neal Roundtree nominated former council member Mary Jo Padgett to fill the vacancy. The council did not vote on her nomination after Miller earned three of the four council member votes.
The council did not discuss either nominee before voting.
As he took his seat with the other council members after his swearing in, Miller said he was excited to join his former colleagues and pledged to not run for the seat or any other seat on the council after his one-year term to fill Smith’s remaining time on the council ends.
He also pledged his commitment to civility.
“Yeah, I do plan to be civil with council, staff and others,” he said.
Smith, a Hendersonville City Council member for 14 years, resigned from the council on Oct 9.
One of the council’s staunchest defenders of neighborhood rights, Smith also was vocal in support of the city’s right to maintain authority over its water-sewer system despite efforts by the Henderson County Board of Commissioners to exert more control and was a strong proponent of spending on parks and greenways.
Miller, who was largely responsible for steering the Hendersonville City Council to a more business-friendly position while also voting to preserve neighborhoods, served two-terms on the board from 2013 to 2021.
When he announced he would not seek a third term on council in 2021, Miller said he was proud of the work the council did on the Garrison industrial park and the town’s cancer center. The council’s work on roads and efforts to create workforce housing in the city were also high points, he said at the time.