FAIRHOPE, Alabama—If Gary Wolfe decides to seek municipal office next August, he must move within Fairhope’s corporate limits by mid-May, because his effort to annex his residence into the city failed Monday night.

Without discussion by other City Council members, Councilman Mike Ford’s motion to annex the property of Charles and Lyn Carr on County Road 34 did not get a second.

The failure of Carr’s petition made Wolfe’s request moot, because the annexation of Carr’s adjacent property was necessary to connect Wolfe’s to city property, according to city staff.

Wolfe, whose Wolfe-Bayview Funeral Homes & Crematory Inc. business has offices in Fairhope and throughout Baldwin County, indicated in May that he might run for council. His interest was motivated, in part, he said at that time, by Police Chief Bill Press’ decision in 2010 to end free police escorts of funeral processions.

Earlier in the council meeting this week, Councilman Dan Stankoski noted under “old business,” in reference to the Fairhope funeral escort issue, that the city of Tuscaloosa recently ended its police escorts of funerals.

Those police escorts ended after the May 21 death of a Tuscaloosa police officer, who was riding a police motorcycle in a funeral procession there. The local council unanimously passed a resolution in August, which supported the police chief’s decision to end escorts, according to reports. The policy was changed for safety reasons. Similar reasons were given by Press when the Fairhope policy was changed.

“I would just like to say that our police department is proactive,” Stankoski said.