Councilman-elect Watson has election day surgery
Robert Watson ran unopposed April 3 for his seat on the Hillsboro City Council, but instead of spending the day greeting new constituents in the city's West Ward, the councilman-elect was laid-up in a recovery ward at Newton Medical Center, following major surgery on election day.
Watson, 59, returned home from the hospital Saturday, a day earlier than expected, according to his wife, Susan.
It's too early to tell if he will be up to attending the official swearing-in ceremony at the April 17 city council meeting, but. she added, his recovery is coming along just fine.
"He's going to try to make it, but at this time we aren't making any promises," she said.
According to Mayor Delores Dalke, Watson shouldn't fret about missing the ceremony. The city clerk will be ready to ask Watson to raise his right hand at a future meeting whenever he's getting around again, Dalke said.
Watson, president of Emprise Bank in Hillsboro, will take the seat formerly occupied by Len Coryea, who spent eight years in office before choosing not to run this time around, to devote more time to teaching and coaching high school football.
Watson has no prior experience as an elected government official, but he served 12 years on the USD 410 board of education, and 10 years on the Hillsboro hospital board; and he was president of both boards.
Watson made recent headlines as the driving force behind Emprise Bank's ongoing quest to build a controversial drive-through adjacent to its building at Main Street and Grand Avenue.
But in an interview conducted prior to the election, he said that wasn't the reason why was he was running for office.
"Everyone will assume the only reason I'm running is because of the bank drive-through, and that would
