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"I'm excited about it," said Danny Rowan a few minutes after he was sworn in as the new Plains mayor by then Mayor Greg Eitelberg.

A small crowd of people showed up for the swearing in ceremony at Plains City Hall last Wednesday. Eitelberg served only one term and decided against going for a second one in order to help his wife take care of her ailing parents in Washington.

Because no one registered to oppose Rowan last September, he was automatically the winner based on Plains Resolution 470, signed into law on Aug. 7. Town council proposed the resolution after the state earlier in 2017 passed HB 447, which authorized a municipality to cancel a general election if the number of candidates filing for election is equal or less than the number of persons to be filed.

The 51-year-old Rowan plans to follow in the footsteps of Eitelberg by tackling the same basic issues, particularly getting the town streets and roads fixed and working to save the lagoon from being washed away by the Clark Fork River. He said the council would probably this year make the town's dozen alleys one-way streets.

He also wants to look into some type of "decay" or "beautification" ordinance to address people's yards. Rowan said he doesn't want to turn Plains into a gated community, but he also believes something should be done when there's evidence that one person's trashy yard is impacting another person's property value or hindering an owner's sale of his or her property.

Rowan has been a council member since 2012 and the council president for two years. Becoming mayor leaves a vacancy as a council member in Ward 3. As of last week, only one person, Chad Cantrell, has applied for the job. Rowan said if no one else is interested in the position Cantrell would be appointed for a two-year period.

Rowan believes the town has been running smoothly under the leadership of Eitelberg. "I think Greg has left the town in an improved position. He did a great job," said Rowan.

Rowan grew up in Plains and Georgia, permanently residing in Plains in 2005. He became a council member in order to take a more active role in the community and the local government. His first council meeting as the mayor was Tuesday, Jan. 2, also the first council meeting of 2018.