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Wednesday, Nov. 04, 2009

Two new members elected to Forsyth City Council

The Forsyth City Council will have a markedly different look next year.

With three City Council seats up for grabs in Tuesday’s election, only incumbent Michael Dodd will be returning to office, joined by newly elected Jo Anna Banks and Eric Wilson in the other two slots.

Banks led all vote-getters with 593 votes, followed by Wilson’s 509 and Dodd’s 396.

Rosemary Walker, who had served on the City Council since 1998, finished last among the five candidates with 322 votes, trailing Gwendolyn King’s 331.

Councilman Lamar Russell, who held one of the seats up for grabs Tuesday, chose not to run for his council seat.

Dodd said having five candidates battle for three seats made it a much more difficult campaign than two or three candidates seeking one seat.

“The dynamics of the race are all over the board,” said Dodd, who won his third term on the council.

“You don’t know where it’s going. There are different contingents. You don’t know where it’s going, but I appreciate the support and look forward to the next four years.”

Dodd said while Banks and Wilson may not have experience on the council, both bring plenty of experience from other arenas.

Banks served as the city’s Better Hometown Director while Wilson, the owner of Go Communications, previously served with what is now the Georgia Department of Economic Development.

“Ms. Banks has a good bit of experience with municipal programs and grants,” he said.

“Eric was an economic developer for the state. Both have strong qualifications. I look forward to working with them, but I hate to lose the two council members I’ve been working with.”

Wilson has a clear-cut agenda he hopes to see implemented in the next four years.

Among his goals are creating more jobs, adding recreation opportunities for young people, including building an aquatic center from special purpose local option sales tax money that has already been raised, and bringing business management to the table.

“I also want to cooperate with the other government entities here, like the school board and the County Commission,” Wilson said.