He left the office, now he wants his seat back

Warner Robins City Councilman Chuck Shaheen, who previously served four years as mayor, formally announced Thursday that he is running for that office again.

After speaking to about 50 people at McCall’s Taste to Remember, Shaheen said he expects to qualify Friday afternoon. He will join former public works director Joe Musselwhite in the race to unseat Mayor Randy Toms, who is seeking his second term.

“Your city has got to have representation throughout your community,” he told the crowd. “We represent everybody in the community. It’s important as your leader that you can get the right people in the room to solve problems.”

Shaheen served as mayor from 2010 to 2014, but instead of seeking a second term he choose to run for City Council and return to work in the private sector. He said earlier he would run for mayor if the council approved a city administrator position and that’s what happened Monday.

Shaheen expressed his support for having a city administrator during his announcement, stating that Warner Robins is the largest city in the state without a city administrator, and he said the next largest without one has a population of 7,500. He said that with a city administrator, the mayor and council can focus on big issues while the administrator handles the day-to-day operations of the city.

This story was originally published August 24, 2017 at 8:46 PM with the headline "He left the office, now he wants his seat back."