So, we have a new mayor set to take office next month in Easley: Fire Chief Butch Womack!

Good thing he’s handy with a hose, because he had to put out a pretty good-sized conflagration right there at City Hall before ever getting elected.

Not a 451-degree Fahrenheit fire, but one that could have dragged city officials into court, had the mayor-elect chosen to sue the city for suspending him without pay for 14 weeks after he announced he planned to run for the office.

Awkward.

Fortunately, the two sides came to terms, averting what would have been a tumultuous start for the incoming administration.

“I don’t want a lawsuit, I don’t want litigation to go into my time as mayor,” Womack told me. “So I’m compromising with them and settling with them on an

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