Jerome Wells, III, a sixth grader at Madras Middle School, would prepare for the growth coming to Sharpsburg by widening roads, raise taxes to build better parks and increase the size of the police force if he were mayor.

Wells’ ideas, expressed in an essay to the Georgia Municipal Association, made him one of 12 winners in GMA’s state-wide “If I Were Mayor, I Would . . .” essay contest

His essay was one of 287 received from students in GMA’s 4th district. Wells, his parents and teacher Debra Higgins were honored in Atlanta Wednesday along with the 11 other winners. Each winner received a $250 savings bond and other prizes.

“We are always so impressed by the students’ ideas,” said GMA Executive Director Jim Higdon. “They have great insight into their communities and clear plans for their futures. Many express the need for clean, economically stable, safe cities. We commend Jerome for his well-written, thoughtful essay.”

A panel of city officials who are also educators or involved in youth programs selected the winning essays based upon creativity, clarity, sincerity of thought and proper use of grammar.

Based in Atlanta, GMA is a voluntary, non-profit organization providing legislative advocacy, educational, employee benefit and consulting services to its 500 member cities.

If I Were Mayor
By Jerome Wells

If I were mayor, I would do my very best for my city in the great state of Georgia. Georgia with the largest airport in the world and the headquarters for Coke and UPS, the home of the Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta Braves, and many famous people. Also a hometown of a small town 30 minutes south of Atlanta called Sharpsburg. Sharpsburg is the city that I live in and it’s growing, so it needs to change to meet the growth. If I were mayor, I want the city to be nice, safe, and fun.

This is how I’m going to change the city. I would use the money from taxes to make the roads wider, put a traffic light on the corner of Hwy. 34 and Andrew Bailey Road, add new school playground equipment, and a city park.

We need the roads wider because people hate being in a traffic jam, and the roads are old. Traffic jams cause people to be late to work, or school, so if we could build a wider road people won’t be in traffic jams. We need to put a traffic light on the corner of Hwy. 34 and Andrew Bailey Road so it will help people with less confusion and accidents.

We need to increase the tax rate by 1 percent so that we could use the money for the schools and parks. We could buy new playground equipment, because the one we have in schools are old, rusty and not safe. We also need to the money to add a park to keep the kids away from trouble.

We also need a police department with 40 or more cops. The city of Sharpsburg is growing; to keep the crime rate low we need police officers. When the kids go to the park the cops could make sure that nothing happens and also keep the city safe.

This could be the town of Sharpsburg and people would love it, which is my goal as mayor. There are many people moving to the great state of Georgia and I want to make sure they stay in Sharpsburg.

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