9 vying for at-large city council seat

And then there were nine.

J. Roy Rowland IV joined eight other candidates for one of three Dublin City Council at-large seats that will be decided by city voters on Nov. 4. 

Rowland joins a field with incumbents Tess Godfrey, Sara Kolbie and Richard Mascaro, along with challengers Rae S. Bloodworth, Brandon Chain, John C. Hall Jr., Ben Lanier and Mitchell Whittington.

For Dublin City School Board election, John A. Bell III will return for Super District 1 and Kenny Walters will return for another term in Super District 2 as they drew no opposition. Regina McRae, an incumbent in an at-large seat, will face challenger Jeff Davis. 

Qualifying for the city election ended at noon Friday. Rowland entered city hall Friday morning to qualify.

Bell was ecstatic when reached for a comment about returning to the city school board.

“I’ve got four more years,” Bell said. “The first year I ran for a two-year term, I had two people running. Two years later I think I had one or two, but I haven’t had opposition since then. I wanted to stay four more years and stay with (Superintendent) Fred Williams. I think we need to get this millage rate down and cut budget where we can.” 

Walters wants to improve the city school board.

“I’m glad people have confidence in me,” he said. “Hopefully, I will continue to do what I can do to make it better for my district. It’s going to be a battle for the next four years because we will have some challenges. We’ve got some work to do.” 

After qualifying ended Friday, Susan Rooks, election supervisor of the Laurens County Board of Elections and Registration, contacted The Courier Herald about the fact that only two candidates qualified for the three city council seats in the city of Dudley for the November election. This meant that qualifying reopened for candidates at 9 a.m. Monday following the close of the preceding qualifying period and will end at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 26.

Qualifying will be at the Laurens County Board of Elections and Registration Office at 117 E. Jackson St., Suite A. 

The qualifying fee for council members is $10. For more information, call (478) 272-2841.