It was quite a night Tuesday in Southwest Fulton. Local election results showed that voters’ preferences largely favored challengers.

Challenger Scott Vaughan won handily Tuesday in Fairburn’s municipal election, taking more votes than any of the three incumbent city council members in the race. In a contest where the three top vote-getters take the win, long-time council member Roy Farr was defeated.

Fairburn saw a 19 percent turnout, with 727 of 3,801 registered stating their preference at the polls. When the ballots were tallied Vaughan had received 513 votes, approximately 30 percent of those cast.

Incumbent Mario Avery received 477 votes, or 28 percent, and incumbent Doug Crawford took 377 votes, or 22 percent. Serving on the city council for more than one-third of a century, incumbent Roy Farr received 334 votes, or 20 percent. Farr entered office in 1970.

Having run with no opposition, Mayor Betty Hannah will serve another term.

Nowhere was a changing of the guard more evident than in Palmetto, where three incumbent council members were defeated by three challengers. In a race where the top three vote-getters win, challengers Jeff Yasson, John Miller and Gregory Rusch defeated incumbents Bill Burnham, John Farr and James Harper.

A total of 364 votes were cast by Palmetto’s 1,665 registered voters, a 22 percent turnout. Miller received 199 votes, or 19 percent, with Miller following closely with 194 votes, also 19 percent, while Yasson captured 18 percent of the vote with 184 residents giving him the nod.

Incumbent James Harper took 166 votes, or 16 percent, while Farr received 157 votes, 15 percent, and Burnham took 14 percent, or 142 votes. Farr has served on the Palmetto council since January 1990. Harper took his seat on the council in December 1999 and Burnham has served since April 2001.

The races involving a large field of candidates in the Union City election, including seven candidates seeking two council seats, came to a resolution late Tuesday with Mayor Ralph Moore’s re-election along with the re-election of council member Shirley Jackson and a successful challenge by Angelette Mealing. Voters also approved two bond referendum projects and passed the Freeport Tax exemption.

Moore defeated Randolph Scott by a 2-1 margin. Moore amassed 623 votes compared to 304 cast for Scott, or 66.6 percent to 32.5 percent. Also cast were eight write-in votes, or .9 percent.

In the seven-way race to fill two council seats, incumbent Shirley Jackson received the largest number of votes — 441 votes, or 27.07 percent, with challenger Angelette Mealing receiving 375 votes, or 23.02 percent.

Incumbent Barbara Bohanon will leave office in January after serving since August 1989. Bohanon received 285 votes, or 17.5 percent. First-time challenger Annette Davis took 230 votes, or 14.12 percent of Tuesday’s votes and Robert Charles Potts garnered 9.15 percent, or 149 votes. Rounding out the list of challengers were Shirley Dean, who received 81 votes, or 4.97 percent, and Nikketta Arnold who took 64 votes, or 3.93 percent. A total of four write-in votes were cast.

Union City has 6,461 registered voters, according to Fulton County election officials. The exact number of ballots cast Tuesday will not be known until next week, they said.

Voters said yes to two bond referendum items designed upgrade roadway and public safety infrastructure. The general obligation bond totaling approximately $12.5 million was voted on separately. The measure that would secure $9.8 million for street upgrades passed 76.3 percent to 23.7 percent, or 662 votes to 206. The second measure, allocating $2.5 million to the Fire Department to construct a new fire station on the east side of I-85 and the purchase of two fire engines passed 705 votes to 166, or 81 percent to 19 percent. The balance bond amount will be allocated for bonding company administrative costs associated with servicing the 20-year bond.

Voters also said “yes” to the proposed Freeport exemption, The measure passed 535 votes to 308, or 63.5 percent to 35.5 percent. The Freeport tax is paid by certain types of manufacturing and warehousing businesses. A Freeport exemption is a reduction in taxes paid by those businesses on inventory being shipped out of state. The significance of having a Freeport exemption rests with the fact that more than 90 percent of Georgia communities, including most in the area, already have the exemption in place. While the Freeport exemption alone will not generate new manufacturing enterprises, the adoption of the exemption, sends a positive signal to manufacturers that those areas are ready for development.

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