Candidates differ on priorities as Forsyth City Council vote nears
Voters in Forsyth have plenty to decide this election season.
Besides choosing a new mayor, there are races for three of four City Council positions, with incumbent Melvin Lawrence running unopposed for Post 3. Posts 5 and 6 are not up for election this year.
The challenging candidates range from newcomers such as Nikia Davis in the Post 4 race to former Mayor Tye Howard in the Post 2 race, but at least one of the incumbents was wondering why there was a challenge at all.
"We had a good group, and we got a lot done in two years," said Greg Goolsby, who holds the Post 4 seat.
Goolsby, who suggested that the opposition for his and other posts could be racially motivated, is running against Davis, while Howard and Chris Hewett are joining Alleta Mays in the race for the vacant Post 2 post. Dexter King is challenging Jimmy Jones for Post 1.
Here's a closer look at the races:
POST 1
Jones and Goolsby joined the council two years ago when council members James Edward Calloway and Desi Surtane Hansford were indicted and eventually sentenced to prison on bribery charges.
Since then, Jones said he and his fellow council members have taken steps to right the ship financially for the city.
"The biggest thing is when I came into office two years ago, the city couldn't pay its bills, and now we're financially stable," he said.
The books have gotten so much better, Jones said, that Forsyth was able to borrow $1 million from itself to purchase a new fire truck recently.
The job isn't complete, though, and that's why Jones wants to win a complete term and keep working.
"I just want to see some things through to fruition," he said.
A major goal for Jones would be economic development in Forsyth, but that can't happen without cooperation between various government entities in Monroe County, he said. People are needed on the council, County Commission and other governing bodies who are willing to "sacrifice and serve" the community while putting aside their own political agendas, in Jones' estimation.
"Primarily, the reason we do not have economic development in Forsyth and Monroe County is politics," Jones said.
His opponent, Dexter King, agreed that the city needs more businesses, but he pointed to infrastructure as the biggest deterrent to that type of development.
King said that water and power systems need to be set up to handle more businesses, and he added that four exits from Interstate 75 within the Forsyth city limits should make it ripe for improvements on the economic front.
"With those factors, we should be farther along as far as development," he said.
An Air Force retiree, King has spent 20 years in corrections and now serves as the assistant director for the Macon Youth Development Campus.
He said that experience in corrections and the military has taught him leadership, structure and discipline, all of which would be important for making budget and policy decisions on City Council.
"Structure and discipline is a big part, especially when you're dealing with people's money," King said.
POST 2
Eric Wilson left Post 2 vacant when he decided to run for mayor against incumbent John T. Howard II, and three candidates stepped up to fill the void.
At least one of them knows perhaps more about the position Wilson is trying to fill than a council post, though. Tye Howard served as Forsyth's mayor from 2008 to 2012 and thinks his recent experience would make him an asset.
"I think all the information and experience I've got brings a lot of current issues to the table," he said.
He also said he was interested in the chance to serve just the unexpired two years of Wilson's term.
Financially, he said that time as the city's mayor gave him the necessary knowledge about working with a $17 million budget.
"I was very successful in my term as mayor," he said.
Chris Hewett also brings experience in city politics to the race. A retired schoolteacher, he served on council from 2004 to 2007, and he said that would make him an asset in a return to the group.
"Understanding how the system works and how to help navigate through the processes," he said.
He said the lack of an incumbent in the race, as well as the presence of two candidates with past experience in local politics, were "not a big deal" and didn't affect his campaign much.
"I run on my past experience, my education and my life experiences," he said.
Since retiring from the classroom, Hewett put his Mercer University business degree to work at United Bank. In addition to that, his father, Hillman Hewett, was the mayor of Yatesville when he was a child, and he said both of those influences add to his qualifications.
"I understand how the money flows," he said. "I understand how things work politically."
Like many of the other candidates, economic development was crucial to Hewett. He said the city needs representation on the county's development authority, which it doesn't now have.
"Forsyth needs to open up, try to attract new businesses," he said.
Candidate Alleta Mays may not have the political experience to match her opponents, but she's far from a newcomer to the city's operations. She worked in billing at City Hall from 1992 to 1995 and 2005 to 2012, which means she was there when both Howard at Hewett were in office.
"It's not going to change the race," she said of her lack of political experience compared to Howard and Hewett. "Both know I was a good employee and knew the city."
From her time in billing, Mays knows of at least one issue that hasn't been resolved. She said that frequently people would request "budget billing" for their utilities, in which the bill amount would be the same average amount each month instead of fluctuating.
She still hears that request even though she no longer works in that field.
"The citizens were saying, 'We want budget billing. We want budget billing.' But we don't offer budget billing," Mays said. "If it takes spending money to get a new program, it should be done."
Bigger than that, though, is the need for business development that other candidates pointed out.
"Attract new commercial businesses that will bring in jobs for our people here," she said.
POST 4
Goolsby, who moved to Forsyth from Atlanta after retiring from Georgia Tech five years ago, decided to run for office in his relatively new hometown when the two council positions were vacated two years ago.
"I'm not sure why I did that, but it seemed like a good idea at the time," he joked. "The two years have been very rewarding."
Goolsby still considers himself "an outsider" in the community because he hasn't spent much of his life there. He said that gives him a special view of the issues.
"I think it's a different perspective, I guess," he said. "I'm taking more of a common-sense approach because I don't have any real ties."
He was pleased with the move he and the other council members made to rewrite the city's charter and move to a city manager system. That put day-to-day operations in the hands of a hired official and took politics out of those processes.
Goolsby considered such moves "housekeeping" that should have been done long ago, and that left him "surprised" that he and others were facing opposition in this election.
"I think there's a group of African-Americans in Forsyth who think their voice isn't being heard, which I don't agree with," he said.
His opponent, Nikia Davis, is black, as is Jones' opponent, Dexter King.
Davis said her reason for running was related to her status as a single mother of a 14-year-old daughter, Autumn Grier. Her teenage nephew also moved into town in recent years, and Davis started to notice there weren't enough options for young people in Monroe County.
"Just looking at the opportunities that are here in Forsyth for our youth, it's really discouraging," she said.
Davis added that she'd like to see more "variety" on council, and that her career as a registered nurse could pay off as a representative of the city.
"I think that, basically, nursing is all about making assessments and judgment calls," she said.
Davis concurred with other candidates, though, that there needed to be more businesses attracted to Forsyth. She thinks it's time all governing bodies start "re-investing in our city."
"I feel like we have an excellent opportunity for economic growth, and it's not happening right now," she said.
To contact writer Jeremy Timmerman, call 744-4331 or find him on Twitter
Forsyth City Council, Post 1
Name: Jimmy Jones
Age: 50
Occupation: Telecommunications
Political experience: Incumbent
Top issue: Economic development
Name: Dexter King
Age: 46
Occupation: Retired military/Corrections
Political experience: None
Top issue: Infrastructure/Economic development
Forsyth City Council, Post 2
Name: Chris Hewett
Age: 65
Occupation: Banking/Retired educator
Political experience: City Council 2004-2007
Top issue: Economic development
Name: Tye Howard
Age: 63
Occupation: Network engineering
Political experience: Mayor, 2008-2012
Top issue: City/county cooperation
Name: Alleta Mays
Age: 46
Occupation: Personal care home manager
Political experience: None
Top issue: Economic development
Forsyth City Council, Post 4
Name: Greg Goolsby
Age: 50
Occupation: Laboratory casework
Political experience: Incumbent
Top issue: City/county cooperation
Name: Nikia Davis
Age: 34
Occupation: Registered nurse
Political experience: None
Top issue: Economic development
This story was originally published October 30, 2015 at 11:43 AM with the headline "Candidates differ on priorities as Forsyth City Council vote nears ."