Voters in the Towns of Lansing, Jefferson and West Jefferson visited the polls on Tuesday to determine who will represent the towns for the next two, or four, years. Lansing had the highest turnout, percentage wise, with 49 of 129 registered voters (38 percent) casting their ballots. West Jefferson saw 216 of the 1,065 voters cast ballots (20 percent), but the uncontested race in Jefferson didn’t draw much interest as only 41 of 1,092 registered voters (four percent) chose to vote.

Mullis Knocks McMillan Off West Jefferson Board; Shoemaker and Green Re-elected

Calvin Green (124 votes) and Stephen Shoemaker (114 votes) had no problems defending their seats on the West Jefferson Board of Aldermen, but the race didn’t go as well for fellow incumbent Jerry McMillan. He finished fourth with 88 votes and newcomer Lester Mullis (104 votes) will fill the third and final seat that was up for grabs.

Tod Hale (80 votes) and Mack Ham (67 votes) also failed to earn a spot on the board.

Mullis said he is excited to get his feet wet and ”just kind of take things slow.

“I have a whole lot to learn, I know that, but I’ll hang in there,” he said. “I think I can make a difference. I’m looking forward to serving.

“There are a few issues in the town that need to be addressed,” Mullis continued. “There’s ordinance issues that are going to have to be taken care of. They just kind of get put on the back burner, but I’m going to do what I can to get them brought forward.” He noted that he is “going to take a look at the water bills and the taxes – I think they’re both a little higher than what they should be.”

Shoemaker said he thinks Mullis will “bring some new ideas to the board” and work well with the board. In regards to his own term, Shoemaker said that they “still have a lot of issues.

“The state’s still trying to take a lot of money away from us in these hard times,” said Shoemaker. “It’s just trying to keep the ship afloat. There will be a lot of challenges but I think we’ve got a good start. We’re in pretty good shape right now if we can just keep it in line.

“We’ve always got infrastructure problems that we’ve got to deal with,” he continued. “It’s an old town and we have certain things we’re going to have do deal with, [but] we’ve got one of the best water and sewer systems that you could ask for, a good police department and a good maintenance department. We’re in pretty good shape, it’s just going to be hard to hold the taxes and make everything work at the same time. That’s the thing people don’t understand – in order to have a good town, you have to spend a little money, and that’s just the way it is.”

Shoemaker noted that West Jefferson has a “smart town manger” in Greg McGinnis who “knows how to get funding,” such as matching funds and grants, that Shoemaker said “have kind of saved us.” Shoemaker said that with McGinnis’ direction “and a board that can work close together, I think we’ll be just fine.”

Green was unavailable for comment at press time.

New Faces Ready to Represent Lansing

Bill Cline (35 votes), Mauvine Shepherd (33 votes) and George Rembert III (26 votes) won the three four-year terms available on the Lansing Board of Aldermen, while fellow candidates Dennis Trainor, Jr. (18 votes), Jeff Key (nine votes) and incumbent Israel Church (three votes) all failed to qualify for the board.

In a separate race, appointed Alderman Brenda Reeves (38 votes) shed the “appointed” from her title and will serve the remaining two years of the unexpired term as an elected board member. As of Tuesday night, write-in nominee Terry Paisley (two votes) has won the final board spot to serve two years of the second unexpired term available.

Rembert, who was appointed to replace Shane Duncan on the board, said he looks forward to “progressing Lansing” and being a part of “a board that works together and makes things happen.” He noted that the challenges he wants to face are “revitalizing the town; following through with the N.C. STEP program – making that work to the benefit of the town; looking for other grants and opportunities to revitalize the town; and to bring business and tourism into the town and make the town a more enjoyable and pleasant place to live.”

He later added, “I think we’ve got a good board. I think the people have voted in a good board and we can really move forward from this point.”

Reeves said she is looking forward to “working with the new members of the board, and I’m hoping that we can really set some realistic goals for Lansing and help Lansing to meet those goals.” She cited parking and water as the primary issues facing the town.

“We need to get striping on the pavement to mark off parking spaces,” she said. “Right now, it’s just helter skelter. There’s no designated parking places so everybody just parks wherever.”

In regards to water, Reeves said that the town doesn’t “have enough water to meet the demand.

“We have people who would like to put in a mobile home, but we can’t supply water for them,” she said. “We’re supposed to have some fire hydrants but we didn’t have the water to supply those, so hopefully we can have a new well that will meet the demand.” She noted that several empty storefronts have been filled recently and they want to attract more residents to Lansing, both factors that would lead to an ever higher demand for water.

Reeves also said she “wants to see more businesses come in and get these other buildings filled.”

Cline also cited water as the biggest issue facing the town and said he hopes “we can better the town. That what I ran for and that’s what I’m hoping will happen.”

Shepherd was unavailable for comment at press time.

Three Jefferson Aldermen ‘Win’

Gwen Ashley (39 votes), Mark Johnston (39 votes) and Bluferd Eldreth (36 votes) were all selected to continue serving on the Jefferson Board of Aldermen. There were no other candidates for the three open seats and no write-in votes were cast.