Five qualify to run for Ward II Albany City Commission seat

ALBANY — It turns out there will be only one race in the Albany’s Nov. 7 municipal election. But what a race it’s become.

With Matt Fuller completing qualifying requirements shortly after noon Friday and CaMia Hopson getting in just under the deadline around 4:30 p.m., the race for the Ward II Albany City Commission seat closed out with five candidates vying for the position: incumbent Bobby Coleman, who qualified Wednesday; the Rev. Ivey Hines, who was ousted from the Ward II seat by Coleman four years ago, and community activist Haryl Dabney, who qualified Monday, and Fuller and Hopson.

Incumbent Ward III and Ward V commissioners B.J. Fletcher and Bob Langstaff, respectively, had no challengers qualify and will automatically return to the board for four-year terms.

“I’d been sitting on the fence for a couple of days, considering whether I should run after several community supporters were pushing me to move forward,” Hopson, a member of Albany’s Downtown Development Authority and a first-time candidate, said late Friday. “After being a part of the footprint of blighted communities in Atlanta when I worked there (with AT&T) and seeing those properties become something beautiful, I saw some of the same things here when I moved back home seven years ago.

“As I observed similar circumstances here, I got to the point where I said, ‘Let’s see what we can do.’ I want to be actively involved in transforming some of these same kind of blighted areas. This is something that’s near to my heart, and my driving force in getting involved in this race is my love for this city.”

Fuller, the owner of Kay Fuller & Sons Custom Cabinets and also a first-time candidate, said he, too, had the best interest of Albany in mind when he decided to make a run for the Ward II seat.

“I live in the Rawson Circle neighborhood in Ward II, I live in walking distance from my business at 315 Seventh Ave., and I go to church in the ward,” Fuller said. “I’ve been sitting on the sidelines for a long time saying, ‘Somebody’s got to do better.’ I started feeling hypocritical because I was complaining but not doing anything myself. I felt it was time for me to put up or shut up.

“I am not a politician, but I feel that my 15 years of experience running a business can be very important to our community. That’s something I bring to the table. Since I’m getting into the race late, I really intend to hunker down and get a firm grasp on the important issues that impact all of the people of Ward II. There are a lot of things that need to be done, and I intend to interact with people throughout the ward to get an idea of what issues are most important to them.”

As Fuller and Hopson, an IT specialist at Marine Corps Logistics Base-Albany, were bringing the candidate total up to five Friday, one of the already-qualified candidates took a shot at the incumbent for comments he made in an article that appeared in Thursday’s Albany Herald.

“Based on (Coleman’s comments in the Herald) article, there’s no need for anyone else to enter the race for Ward 2 Commissioner,” Dabney said Friday. “Not because I’m the most educated or that I think I know what’s best (for the community), but my prior community service details what I will do and can do for the community. There’s certainly a need for change, but we don’t need anyone without a vision.

“(No one should) feed into Coleman’s unfounded claims of being ‘the most educated, experienced, etc.’ Because he’s certainly not, nor has he been.”

Since only the incumbents qualified for the Ward III and Ward V seats, elections will not be held in those wards on Nov. 7. Instead, Elections Supervisor Ginger Nickerson said Friday, only the five precincts in Ward II will be open on election day.

“The (qualifying) process went extremely well for this cycle,” Nickerson said Friday. “I’m pleased with the way things went, and I’m looking forward to an interesting Ward II race.”