Qualifying Ends in Franklin County

Qualifying for municipal races in Franklin and Hart counties is over and most incumbents have signed up in hopes of winning another term.

In Franklin County, all five municipalities have open seats on their city councils. Three have mayoral seats open.

In Royston,  three city council seats and the mayor’s seat are open in that general election. All incumbents, Matt Fields, Larry Bowen and Kenneth Roach have qualified.

Also, local radio station owner, Kris “KJ” Kendrick has qualified to run for city council. Kendrick said he decided to run to help turn around the town’s sagging economy.

“I love this town and enjoy the pace, and I am not looking to drastically change Royston, but we cannot stand by and watch our town die on the vine,” Kendrick said. “People need a place to work and I believe it is time to become aggressive about making Royston a great place to operate a business, large or small”.

Also qualifying for city council in Royston is Darryl Ayers.

In the Royston mayor’s race, incumbent mayor David Jordan was the only candidate to qualify and will run unopposed.

In Franklin Springs, two city council seats are open and the mayor’s seat. So far, incumbent city councilmen Tom Wilson and Joe Bryant have qualified and incumbent mayor Lee Moore has also qualified. No other candidates have qualified and all will run unopposed.

In the City of Canon, two city council seats are also up for grabs along with the mayor’s job.  Incumbents Dale Garner and Annie Wallace have qualified and William Morgan has also qualified to run for a city council seat. Meantime, incumbent Canon mayor Ray Morgan has qualified to run for re-election. He is running unopposed.  

And in the City of Carnesville, two city council seats are open.  Those are for the seats currently held by incumbents Mike Barrett and Chad Bennett.  Both incumbents have qualified and a third candidate, Franklin County Marshall Chris Ayers has also qualified.

In Lavonia, two city council seats are open, Posts 1 and 2.  Both incumbents have qualified and will run unopposed.  Don Canady will run unopposed for Post 1 and David Howell will run unopposed for Post 2.