FILE PHOTOS BY HEATHER N. GRIMMER/CONTRIBUTOR - Anne McCaffrey is flanked by City Clerk Richelle Pasceri and now-former Mayor Mike Tucker at a Common Council Meeting on Feb. 11. With Tucker's sudden resignation Friday, McCaffrey will serve as interim mayor of the City of Lockport until she is sworn in officially on Monday.

With the proper paperwork filed with the city clerk's office to make Mayor Mike Tucker's resignation official shortly after 2 p.m. Friday, former alderwoman and former Common Council President Anne McCaffrey began today as the new mayor of Lockport.

According to the city charter, in a circumstance where the mayor's post is vacated in the middle of a term, the Common Council president is promoted to the post of mayor. The charter also calls for the new mayor to appoint a replacement to serve as alderman in the ward they vacated, as well as appoint a new president to the Common Council.

Then-Council-President Anne McCaffrey reads a statement on Feb. 11 calling for an outside investigation into an alleged credit card abuse by a city employee and the  city's mismanagement of that incident.

McCaffrey, 46, was first elected to the Common Council in 2011, serving a year as 2nd Ward alderwoman before being also named as Common Council president when former 1st Ward Alderwoman Richelle Pasceri relinquished that role — and her council presidency — to take the position of city clerk in early 2013.

When McCaffrey was originally sworn in as an alderwoman in January of 2012, then-Mayor Mike Tucker called her “a rising star of the city.”

Their relationship wasn't nearly as strong in recent months. In fact, just 11 days ago, McCaffrey called Tucker out publicly over his handling of a fundraiser-gone-bad in which Youth and Recreation Director Melissa Junke had used a city credit card to purchase items and plane tickets for a fundraiser in which more than $9,000 was spent and an estimated $1,500 was raised. The incident is currently being investigated by outside counsel Brian D. Doyle, who is being paid $200 an hour to conduct the investigation. It was McCaffrey who originally — publicly, at least — proposed the idea of hiring an investigator to look into the matter.

McCaffrey made a statement on Feb. 11 regarding the issue, saying "In addition to the possible misuse of the credit card, we're asking, 'Why was nothing done about it? Why did management do nothing about it?'

McCaffrey lives on Willow Street with her husband Chris and their three daughters.

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