Abbeville mayor unopposed
Published 10:39 am Tuesday, March 7, 2017
Scott Fricker will remain Abbeville’s mayor for at least another fours after no one filed to run against him in the town’s June election.
Deadline to file an intent statement to run for office was Friday in Abbeville, Taylor and Oxford for municipal elections.
Unlike Oxford that has wards and candidates run in a partisan race, Abbeville’s five aldermen are essentially at-large aldermen, each representing all of the town of Abbeville, rather than their own ward.
Alderman Jerry Pope is not running to retain his seat; however, the other four current aldermen have filed the paperwork to run, which include Ken Hanks, Wayne Haynie, Lynn Klepzig and Ronnie Williams. Other candidates tossing their hat into the election are Abbeville residents Don Ward and Will Kent.
Registered voters will head to the polls June 6 to select their aldermen. The top five candidates with the most votes will become aldermen.
Fricker said he hopes the lack of candidates means residents inside the city limits of Abbeville are happy with their local government.
“I hope everyone is satisfied with what we’ve done, and what we’re trying to do,” Fricker said Monday.
Fricker was elected as mayor four years ago after long-time Mayor Betsy Aloway decided not to run to retain the position she held since 1978. He served as an alderman for eight years prior to becoming mayor in 2013.
Taylor candidates unknown
The final day to qualify to run in the town of Taylor municipal election was also Friday; however, Town Clerk Richard Williams said he could not release the list of candidates until Wednesday after they are certified by the town’s Election Commission.
Williams said one of the commissioners is out of town, which has stalled the process by a few days.
“The commissioners will check the applications and make sure they are registered voters who live in Taylor,” he said Monday.
Taylor is much like Abbeville, where their alderman are at-large and the election is nonpartisan. Current aldermen include; Dorothy “Betty” Kisner, Tim Bridges, Ellen Meacham, Jimmie Willingham and Courtney Covington.
Williams said eight people have filed statements of intent to run for office for the aldermen seats and only one has filed to run for mayor, but would not confirm if that was incumbent Mayor James E. Hamilton, who did not immediately respond to the EAGLE’s request Monday to confirm if he is running to retain his seat.
Whoever has qualified in the mayor race in Taylor will run unopposed, making all three mayoral races in Lafayette County unopposed. In Oxford, current Ward 2 Alderman Robyn Tannehill was the only candidate to qualify to run in June after Mayor Pat Patterson announced in December he would not be seeking re-election.
Tannehill said even though she is unopposed, she will spend the next three months doing much of what she planned to do if she did have someone running against her.
“I will spend the next three months meeting with community groups and city employees,” Tannehill said in a Facebook post this weekend. “I plan to knock on doors and meet with neighborhood groups. It is important to me that the citizens of Oxford hear what issues are important to me and how I hope to address them. It is equally important to me that I get input from Oxonians about things you are passionate about.”