By this time next month, the city of Swainsboro will have elected a new chief executive. After serving one term, the current city mayor has chosen to step down and not seek another term. In the upcoming race, Lillie Ann Brown and Johnny Tapley, Jr. are the only candidates who have declared and qualified to be on the ballot for mayor on election day, November 4, 2025. Both candidates are newcomers to the world of elected office. Ms. Brown operates a day care center on Mason Drive in Swainsboro. Mr. Tapley is recently retired from a career with the State of Georgia. Other issues on the ballot to be decided by Swainsboro voters will include a council seat contest between Brad McKenzie and K.D. McNeil, a referendum deciding passage of a “Floating Local Option Sales Tax” and a yes or no decision concerning Sunday alcohol sales out in the county. Two state-wide Public Service Commission seats are also up for a vote. It is actually a pretty simple ballot, but the headliner this year is the mayor’s race, and that contest deserves your attention.
“If you don’t vote, then don’t complain”. We’ve all heard that over and over, but I want to add another political admonition. “Don’t bother about voting unless you don’t mind seeing your taxes and insurance go up, the business community go down, schools and hospital care struggle to maintain standards, and just about everything else suffer in the process”. That might sound like exaggerated doom and gloom, but if the leadership in City Hall is not capable of leading, the signs will soon be there, and you can clearly see it in many different ways. Even a small town like ours has a budget of many millions of dollars. That budget requires careful, competent management, but just as important, the job of mayor also requires consistent attention to the people; the citizens and their problems, concerns, and how they feel about the place in which they live. There is much more to this job than just “taking care of the numbers”. It requires a constant effort to move every part of city government forward a little bit every day. If that doesn't happen, progress stops, and the city slides in the wrong direction.
So, what is required from us? Our obligation is to participate. First, by getting as much information as possible on the candidates and the issues, and then by making our choice known with an absentee ballot, or by showing up for early voting or election-day voting at the brand-new county building next to the Post Office. Your vote is the most important part of this whole process because it says that you care about this town and its future. Your vote also confirms the legitimacy of representative government, and also…it gives you the right and the honor of complaining later on if things don’t suit you.
