FAIRHOPE, Alabama—When Gary Wolfe said in May he might run for City Council next year, some political watchers noted he wasn’t eligible because he lived outside the city limits.

An ordinance introduced at Monday’s council meeting to have his County Road 34 home annexed into Fairhope could remove that obstacle. The vote on that annexation is expected Nov. 14.

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Wolfe said Monday night, when asked if the annexation was linked to a council run in August 2012. “I just want to live in Fairhope. Everybody wants to live in Fairhope.”

In May, The Courier reported that Wolfe was considering a challenge to an incumbent council member but hadn’t decided which one.

“He’s running or he wouldn’t be annexing,” Councilwoman Debbie Quinn said before Monday’s council meeting.

Owner of Wolfe-Bayview Funeral Homes and Crematory, with offices in Fairhope, Daphne, Foley and Elberta, Wolfe became a regular member at council meetings after Chief Bill Press first sought to end free police escorts of funerals in 2010.

He has been less visible since May, but he was back in the council audience Monday night.

Wolfe has been a vocal opponent of the new chief since Press began raising the funeral escort issue shortly after he was hired by the council in 2009.

A majority on the council could fire Press, and speculation in the community has centered on Wolfe as one in a slate of candidates to field that challenge.