Paden City has elected a new mayor Friday, according to the city recorder's office. John "Hoppy" Hopkins beat out three other candidates, including incumbent Bill Fox for the position.

NEWS9 talked to the mayor elect following Thursday night's results, who is a veteran of the city office. Hopkins said he plans to tackle the city's problems.

"I got in the race early on. I sure thought about not going again. I served four years, four years ago two terms," said Hopkins. "We had a lot of support. We had a rally yesterday at a place called Pineapple Park across from the bank."

His victory comes just days after Fox was in the town's headlines for allegedly running the license plate of one resident. A complaint was filed against Fox for abuse of crime information records. Hopkins shared his thoughts.

"Only thing I can say is that as mayor, the mayor is an administrator, over the police department," said Hopkins. "We don't get involved in police matters. If you've got something, you turn it over to the chief and let him handle it. That's about all I can say there."

His plans for the city include repaving some streets and getting the sewer systems up to date with an environmental mandate.
"There are still problems in the system. It's a very, very old system -- over 100 years old," said Hopkins. "And surface water gets in and gives us problems."

Hopkins has two years to accomplish his plans when he takes office July 1.