In the three months since his indictment on corruption and election fraud charges, Ben Cooper's title has been constantly changing.

First, he resigned as the acting town manager and mayor of Appalachia, but stayed on town council. Then he changed his mind and stayed on as mayor. Then he resigned as mayor, but stayed on council.

Now, he's calling it quits for good.

Members of Appalachia Town Council learned of Cooper's decision to leave the council Thursday night from his attorney, Patti Church, who told them the decision was not in response to their vote last month to begin legal steps to have him removed from office.

Church questioned the council's action, considering that most of its members were in office during the time covered by a 300-page indictment alleging widespread corruption and police misconduct.

"If all of the allegations of police corruption are true," Church said Friday, "where were these people in the last two years?"

However, the only elected officials charged with a crime were Cooper and Councilman Andy Sharrett, who announced his resignation shortly after the indictment was returned.

Although Cooper -- who faces an Oct. 3 trial date -- is entitled to the presumption of innocence, he also has the town's best interests in mind, Church said. "He's not oblivious to the fact there has been a substantial amount of negative publicity."

The small coal-mining town has received national attention for what political observers have called the state's biggest election fraud scandal in the past half-century.

Cooper and 17 others are accused in a scheme that included buying votes in the 2004 municipal elections with beer, cigarettes and even pork rinds. And in some cases, absentee ballots were stolen from the mail and fraudulently cast for a slate of candidates that included Cooper, the indictment alleges.

Cooper is also charged with using his ill-gotten power to control a rogue police department that he dispatched to harass his enemies with illegal searches of their homes.

Because the Appalachia Town Council chooses the mayor from among its members after every two-year election cycle, Cooper was able to resign as mayor but remain on the five-member council for a term that would have expired in 2008. But even that was complicated last month, when a judge placed him on home electronic monitoring for violating his bond.

Also on Thursday, the council voted to hire Fred Luntsford as its new town manager. A lifelong resident of Appalachia, Luntsford is also a member of the Wise County Board of Supervisors.

Although Luntsford may want to abstain from some votes taken by the board that affect the town of Appalachia, his situation is neither unheard-of nor a conflict of interest, according to Mark Flynn, director of legal services for the Virginia Municipal League.

Luntsford, who will make $45,000 a year, fills a vacancy left by Cooper, whose many moves have left some residents a little uncertain as to who's in charge. "It's very confusing," said Rick Bowman, a former member of the council.

Meanwhile, Cooper's resignation from the council does not take effect until July 4. "It just seemed like an appropriate day," Church said.