West Point, Hogansville council seats will be open

Published 6:27 pm Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Certain council seats for City Council members in Hogansville and West Point will be up for election in November.

In Hogansville, the open city council seats are Post 1, held by Reginald Jackson; Post 2, held by Jimmy Norred; and mayor, currently held by Bill Stankiewicz.

Stankiewicz and Jackson both plan on running for reelection in November, they said this week.

“I want to continue to look out for the citizens of Hogansville and take care of all their needs,” said Jackson.

“I haven’t announced it yet, but I will probably run again,” said Stankiewicz.

Stankiewicz said his decision to run again is based on the many upcoming projects that he wants to see come to fruition in Hogansville.

“There’s a lot of unfinished things to do that we’ve started… a lot of projects we started that I like to see materialize,” said Stankiewicz. “Number one is the recreational area at Jimmy Jackson Lake. The work has already started with the access road being paved. Number two, I’d like to see us make progress in some trail work we started. Number three, we are developing a plan for the revitalization of downtown that includes taking a look at what to do with the Royal Theater.”

Stankiewicz said the theater is a long-term project that won’t get finished in the next four years, but projects like this are what spurs him to run for reelection in the fall.

“We are working on a major infrastructure project that would include a brand new waste water treatment plant and we are in the final stages of bidding that work,” said Stankiewicz. “Lastly, we are in the middle of a major re-financing of the city’s debt that will relieve some of the burden that is on the current budget with that service and that will reduce the current debt service payments.”

Councilman Jimmy Norred was not able to be reached about his reelection plans.

In West Point, council members Steve Tramell, Joseph Downs III and Gloria Marshall will be up for reelection this fall, as well as the seat for mayor.

“The mayor’s seat will be open to fill the unexpired term of the previous mayor, Drew Ferguson, and it will be back on the ballot in two years,” said West Point City Clerk Richard McCoy.

Ferguson was the mayor of West Point before he was elected to the U.S. House in November.

With the mayor’s seat open, councilman Steve Tramell, the current mayor pro-tem, said he will be running for mayor in the next election.

“I will be running again this fall, but I will be running for mayor now, not for council again,” said Tramell. “I’m still on the role as mayor pro-tem and I’ve been mayor pro-tem since Drew Ferguson went to Congress, but I will be running for the seat as mayor in November.”

Council members Joseph Downs III and Gloria Marshall were not able to be reached on their election plans.

 

Shirttail- Reach James Simpson II at 706-884-7311, ext. 2155 or by email at james.simpson@lagrangenews.com