Alex Littleton, an executive at an educational nonprofit and a member of the city’s planning commission, was chosen Tuesday night to fill the vacant seat on the Bristol City Council, following a nearly four-hour council meeting in closed session.
She was one of three finalists, winning out over Rebecca Reeves, a small-business owner, and the Rev. Jackie Nophlin, a pastor and small-business owner who would have been the council’s first-ever Black member.
The vote for Littleton was 3-1, with Vice Mayor Neal Osborne casting the lone no vote. Osborne declined Wednesday to say who he supported.
Osborne and Mayor Jake Holmes both said all of the candidates were qualified, making it a difficult choice.
“We had three super strong candidates — they all three could have done a very good job,” Holmes said. “We ultimately picked Alex Littleton. She has a great experience, great life story in the city, and we just felt like she was the best pick.”
The vote drew some boos from some in the lively crowd, with one person saying that they will remember the vote at election time in November.
Four people spoke Tuesday night in support of Nophlin, whose candidacy also drew support from six residents during the Feb. 10 council meeting.
No residents spoke at either meeting in favor of the other two candidates.
Holmes and Osborne said they knew that some people were disappointed in the vote and they heard the support for Nophlin, but they added that they also had heard from residents who backed the other two candidates.
Littleton, who grew up in Bristol, graduated from the University of Tennessee with an English degree and has a master’s degree in education from King University.
She is the vice president and chief operating officer for Communities and Schools of the Appalachian Highlands, an educational support initiative that serves more than 115 schools in 17 school districts across Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee.
She also serves on the city’s planning commission and on the board of Bristol Regional Medical Center.
Following the vote, Littleton said she’s excited to get to work as a council member and is particularly eager to start working with the rest of the council on the budget for the next fiscal year.
Littleton said she believes she was chosen because of her “history of serving Bristol in my professional roles and volunteer roles and my experience with organizational leadership and strategic planning and those sorts of things.”
Littleton, who has three children, added that she is most interested in working to make Bristol a place where people want to come and raise their families.
Service to her community was instilled in her at an early age by her parents and grandparents, including her grandfather, Howard “Red” Littleton, who she said was a city council member and mayor during the 1970s.
Littleton’s council seat was vacated Jan. 31 by Becky Nave, who accepted a new position that has increased travel demands.
Littleton will serve the remaining nearly three years of Nave’s four-year term. The next election for the seat will be in November 2028.