Langstaff qualifies for fifth run at Ward V seat

ALBANY — Warning: Don’t discount the significance of a couple of minutes.

Checking with the Dougherty County Elections Office as time was about to expire for qualifiers for the day, no one had come in to sign up. But Ward V Albany City Commissioner Bob Langstaff did indeed qualify to run for re-election in the Nov. 7 municipal election in the final minute.

A Herald reporter learned at the Albany City Commission meeting Tuesday night that Langstaff had made his way to the Elections office “30 seconds after you hung up from your call.”

“I wasn’t sure that I would make it in time, but I was downtown and came on in,” Langstaff said. “They told me they’d just gotten off the phone with you.”

Langstaff is the first of the three incumbents up for re-election to qualify for the municipal races. Ward II’s Bobby Coleman and Ward III’s B.J. Fletcher have said they plan to qualify today.

Langstaff, who is completing his 16th year in office as the Ward V representative on the commission, will be seeking a fifth term on the board, second-longest to Ward I Commissioner Jon Howard.

“I think our law enforcement agencies are working hard on it, but we obviously have had an uptick in crime,” Langstaff said. “One of the primary functions of a government is to make sure that citizens are safe, so that will be the primary issue I’ll focus on if I am re-elected.

“I’d also like to see us continue the momentum that’s been built around our downtown redevelopment. With a significant amount of private money being invested in the district, I think we have our best opportunity to see real development there.”

Langstaff joins the Rev. Ivey Hines and community advocate Haryl Dabney as qualifiers for the Nov. 7 election. Both Hines and Dabney qualified to run in Ward II.