Albany municpal election moves to ‘main event’

ALBANY — Early voting is over. Just before the early polls closed late Friday afternoon, Dougherty County Elections officials said that 1,746 voters had taken advantage of the 15 days in which they were allowed by the state to cast advance ballots.

Now, it’s time for the main event.

Voters in 21 of the county’s 28 precincts will go to the polls Tuesday to select two of five candidates to serve the next four years as the city’s mayor and the Albany City Commission representative from Ward IV. Incumbent Mayor Dorothy Hubbard is being challenged by Lane Rosen and Tracy Taylor, while Ward IV Commissioner Roger Marietta faces the challenge of Chad Warbington.

The seats of Ward I and Ward VI Commissioners Jon Howard and Tommie Postell, respectively, are also up for re-election, but because no one qualified to challenge the long-time incumbents, neither’s name will be listed on ballots in the precincts that are located in their wards. However, because the mayor’s race is a citywide race, all 21 precincts located within Albany’s city limits will be open for registered voters from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

“I’m at peace,” Marietta, a Darton State College professor who is completing his second term on the City Commission, said Friday. “I’ve given it all during this campaign, and I’ve had a great team working with me. It feels good knowing that I have so many people in our community behind me.

“I hate that the (Ward IV) campaign got negative at times, but I kinda thought that might happen. You’re not going to typically unseat an incumbent with just a happy campaign, but the thing that saved me is that I’ve been nothing but ethical over my eight years on the commission. I think I’m going to win, and I will focus on two things once we start the new year: using the authority the commission’s been given to lower utility rates and addressing quality-of-life issues like traffic-calming devices and sidewalks.”

Warbington, who owns and manages the Shutters Plus business, said he’s connected with Ward IV voters because he’s a business owner and a family man who is rooted in the community.

“Albany has tremendous potential for growth, and Ward IV needs a leader who has a vision (for) that growth and the courage to challenge the status quo,” Warbington said Friday in an email to The Herald. “My opponent had eight years to demonstrate his leadership, and I’m clearly hearing from Ward IV citizens that it’s time for a positive change.

“The key word for this election is change. Anyone who sits in elected office too long loses sight of what is important to the community. The incumbent in this race has spent eight years in office and has begun taking liberties with his discretionary spending account that are a slap in the face to the average voter. I will be a fresh voice for the city, and I have a business background that makes me uniquely qualified to serve the voters of my ward.”

Marietta has picked up endorsements from state Sen. Freddie Powell Sims and workers at local MillerCoors and UPS plants. Warbington has gotten the backing of Marietta’s commission colleague, Ward V’s Bob Langstaff, Dougherty County Commission Chairman Chris Cohilas, attorney and former city commissioner Bo Dorough, as well as former interim Albany City Manager Tom Berry.

Much of the conversation in the mayoral race has centered on utilities costs, as Rosen made lowering rates and returning control of the Albany Utility Board to an independent autonomous authority the cornerstones of his campaign. Hubbard, though, has asked for patience as the city works to “get ahead of the curve” on future utilities costs.

“We are doing things that are moving us in the right direction,” Hubbard said. “We’re working to improve our credit rating with the Utility Board, working to make needed upgrades to our infrastructure. Some of the things we’re having to do are painful right now, but we have to be willing to bite the bullet now or get ourselves in real trouble down the road. No matter what anyone might say, there is no quick fix.

“I’ve worked hard during this campaign, taken nothing for granted. I’ve walked the streets to get my message out, and I’ll continue to work ‘til the last minute. And I’ll continue to work with local, state and even national leaders to form the collaborations that can make our community better. That’s what our community needs, a leader who has the connections and relationships to make good things happen.”

Taylor said he’s learned a great deal during what is his second political campaign, but mostly he’s come to realize that the primary concern of voters is trust.

“I’ve had a great opportunity to reach out to voters in all parts of our city, and the main issue I hear everywhere is ‘Who can the voters trust?’” the dental assistant said. “As they reflect on a mayor who has been in office, well, counting her six years on the City Commission, for 10 years, they are asking if they can trust her. And they’re asking the same thing about Lane and his ideas and myself as well.

“What this campaign has made me see is that I will continue to be active in my community no matter what happens in the election. I’ve helped people change things already, and I’m just a candidate. If all of us who care about our community would get actively involved, we’d speed up our growth.”

Rosen, too, said he’s learned plenty from his first political campaign, but he notes one lesson has surprised him more than others.

“The first thing that comes to mind as I look back on the election is ‘tiring,’” Rosen said Friday in response to a question. “It’s been challenging on every level. But I’m proud of myself — and I don’t mean that as bragging — but I’m proud that I’ve been able to get out a message that’s been embraced by our entire community. I’m not the kind of person who lets his mind drift to winning or losing, but if I did win this election it would be because the people here put aside age-old social issues like race in an effort to bring about change.

“I think I’ve had an impact in this campaign because I’ve stuck to the issues that are important to me: utility rates, home ownership and jobs. These are not issues some focus group came up with; these are the things that bother me. I consider myself a man of the people, and I know I’ve been speaking for a lot of people.”

Ward IV voters will cast ballots in both the commission and mayoral races at the Westover High School (Precinct 5), Merry Acres Middle School (6), Darton (7) and Westtown Elementary (8) precincts. Voting will be open in all other county precincts except for those outside the city limits — 9 (Second Mt. Zion Church), 19 (Radium Middle School), 20 (Putney First Baptist Church), 21 (International Studies Elementary), 23 (Pine Bluff Baptist Church), 25 (Christ Methodist Church) and 26 (Lamar Reese Elementary).