Friday, December 28, 2001
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Friday, December 28, 2001 |
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Mayoral election splits city in half By JOHN
THOMPSON In one of the most bitterly contested elections in years, Councilman Dianne Cleveland was swept into the Senoia mayor's office in early November. The election and the wave of resignations that occurred afterward was the top story in Senoia last year. Cleveland defeated former Councilman Pam Youngblood by a 228-193 count. After the votes were tallied Tuesday, Cleveland celebrated with a small group of friends and said it was time to get back to doing the city's work. In the City Council races, incumbent Robert Hannah was reelected with 230 votes, while Patrick Tunnel claimed the other open slot with 235 votes. Ed Roberts tallied 167 votes, while Arlevia Gates had 127 votes. In one of the two special elections to replace resigning council members, Robert Belisle defeated Kenneth Davis by a count of 264-143. Bill Wood won the other special election seat with 198 votes, while Lester Mann drew 155 votes and Ernie Jackson Jr. tallied 37 votes. Several candidates gathered at Belisle's house to wait for the election results, along with nearly 20 residents. When the results came in, the candidates declared that the city had been given back to the residents and it was time to get back to work. Throughout the election season, the winning candidates focused on controlling growth and possibly doing away with smaller lot sizes in the city. But after the election, Senoia's new City Council was greeted with mass resignations. Mayor Joan Trammell announced at the close of the meeting that planning commissioner Jack Merrick, librarian Sandra Frank and City Administrator Leonard Thompson had submitted their resignations. Later in the year, more planning commissioners resigned and left the city without a Planning Commission. In his resignation letter, Merrick said he had enjoyed his four-year relationship with the city, but felt "that it would not be a compatible working relationship with the mayor and council" that will be sworn in Jan. 7. Perhaps the city's biggest loss was the resignation of Thompson, who had worked closely with Trammell in getting the city's sewer system up and running. His resignation was effective Dec. 15. In fact, Trammell said that she and Thompson would be working on completing such projects as the reopening of the wooden bridge on Bridge Street and light poles and sidewalks leading to the bridge on Rockaway Road before she leaves office next week.
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