Former councilman qualifies for Warner Robins election; Centerville to have new councilman
Daron Lee, a former Warner Robins city councilman who had not previously announced plans to run in the November election, qualified Wednesday to seek the Post 1 council seat.
Lee joins Jim Taylor, Jeffery Walker and Eric Langston in the race for the at-large seat currently held by Chuck Shaheen, who has not qualified. Langston, who had earlier announced his plans to run for Post 1, also qualified Wednesday.
After serving one term, Lee left his Post 5 council seat in 2013 to run for mayor. He finished fourth in the six-way race.
He said Wednesday that his top issues are public safety, veterans, senior citizens and parks and recreation.
Shaheen, meanwhile, posted on Facebook on Tuesday night that he plans to qualify for mayor. He had stated he was running for mayor during a debate in a recent council meeting but has not formally announced. He had earlier said he might run for mayor if the council approved a city administrator position, which the council did Monday.
“After meeting with my family and much prayer I believe God is leading me to run for Mayor of Warner Robins 2017,” Shaheen stated in the Facebook post. “Exactly eight years ago on August 24th 2009, I announced my candidacy for Mayor and with your support “We” made a difference in Warner Robins. Serving on Council for the last four years has shown me the extensive work council does and it’s about forming a team. I understand the importance of Mayor and Council working together and setting a Vision for our City.”
He posted that he is having a kickoff event at McCall’s Taste To Remember on Watson Boulevard at Commercial Circle from 6:30-8 p.m. Thursday.
Although qualifying in most other cities runs through Friday, qualifying for Centerville and Fort Valley ended Wednesday. Centerville Mayor John Harley will be unopposed, while Fort Valley Mayor Barbara Williams drew three opponents. JoAnne Dankle, Jamie Johnson and Ralph Davis all qualified to run for mayor.
Also, Centerville Councilman Randall Wright did not qualify for re-election to his Post 2 seat, and Justin Wright, a pastor, was the only person to qualify for the seat. Krista Bedingfield, the election superintendent, said it’s the first time in her 17 years with the city that no one had opposition. With no opposed races, the city will not have to have an election. Post 1 Councilman Cameron Andrews did not draw opposition.
Here are all of the qualifiers as of Wednesday in area cities:
BYRON
City Council Post 3: Michael S. Chumbley, incumbent; Farrell Bass
City Council Post 4: No qualifiers
City Council Post 5: Alan Dorsey, incumbent
CENTERVILLE
Mayor: John Harley, incumbent
City Council Post 1: Cameron Andrews, incumbent
City Council Post 2: Justin Wright
GRAY
Mayor: James Collins
Mayor Pro-Tem: Ed Barbee, Kema Clark
Council, Post 1: Terry Favors
Council, Post 2: Terrell Fulford
Council, Post 3: Benny Gray
Council, Post 4: David Tufts
WARNER ROBINS
Mayor: Randy Toms, incumbent; Joe Musselwhite
City Council, Post 1: Jeffrey Walker; Jim Taylor; Daron Lee, Eric Langston
City Council, Post 3: Keith Lauritsen, incumbent
City Council, Post 5: Clifford Holmes, incumbent;
FORSYTH
Council, Post 2: Chris Hewett, incumbent
Council, Post 5 Julius Stroud III
Council, Post 6 Mike Dodd, incumbent
FORT VALLEY
Mayor: Barbara Williams, incumbent; JoAnne Dankle, Jamie Johnson and Ralph Davis
City Council East Ward, Post 1: Juanita Bryant, incumbent
City Council At-Large: Constance Rainey, Marvin Crafter
City Council West Ward, Post 2: Carla Gowan, Rose Marie Thompson
Utility Commissioner Post 3, at large: Alre’ Horton, Ralph Lambert
Utility Commissioner Post 1, East Ward: Linda Johnson, incumbent
PERRY
Mayor: Jimmy Faircloth, incumbent
City Council District 1, Post 1: Phyllis Bynum-Grace, incumbent
City Council District 2, Post 1: Robert Jones, incumbent
City Council District 3, Post 1: Randall Walker, incumbent;
ROBERTA
Mayor: Becky Smith, incumbent
Post 1 Charles Cook
Post 2 Ervin Patton, incumbent; Bobby Joe Daniel
This story was originally published August 23, 2017 at 1:02 PM with the headline "Former councilman qualifies for Warner Robins election; Centerville to have new councilman."