During a contentious year with Roswell City Hall, voters are sending two candidates to a December runoff.
Post 2 City Council candidates Allen Sells and Michael Dal Cerro will face each other in the Dec. 5 runoff for the seat currently held by Councilman Michael Palermo.
Roswell has had a year of pushback from residents wanting more transparency. This election season produced anonymous derogatory flyers, emails and social media posts that divided the slate of candidates running in four races.
Post 2 is the sole race to go to a runoff in Roswell this year.
Sells and Dal Cerro are both pro-economic development and say Roswell has missed opportunities while such cities as Alpharetta have flourished. They disagree on the $100 million Southern Post restaurant, retail, residential project under construction on Alpharetta Street.
Thursday, Sells said the nearly built project is not a good fit for the location and would be more ideal near Ga. 9 and Holcomb Bridge Road.
“It’s out of character with the Historic area, it’s above the tree line, and there should be more commercial (businesses in the development),” he said of the current location. “I support mixed-use in general to make economics thrive in Roswell.”
Dal Cerro said Southern Post, which is located around the corner from downtown Canton Street, is a step forward for Roswell.
“I believe in smart development like Southern Post,” Dal Cerro said.
Dal Cerro added that he also wants to bring economic growth to East Roswell which has been neglected and “backburnered” by the city.
In the three other races, Post 1 Councilwoman Sarah Beeson (50.4%) was reelected and narrowly avoided a runoff with candidate Jason Miller.
Post 3 Councilwoman Christine Hall was reelected receiving 59% of the vote over challenger Lyndsey Coates who garnered 41%.
Newcomer David Johnson (54%) beat challenger Jade Terreberry (46%) in the race for the Post 4 seat vacated by former Councilman Peter Vanstrom.
Milton
Milton Councilwoman Carol Cookerly won 64% of the vote defeating Helen Gordon to retain her District 1, Post 2 seat.
Councilmen Paul Moore and Rick Mohrig are leaving office.
Moore did not run for reelection. Doug Hene, who ran unopposed, was elected to the District 2, Post 2 seat.
In February, a Fulton County Superior Court judge dismissed Moore’s lawsuit against a resident who filed an ethics complaint against him over an issue in Moore’s neighborhood.
Mohrig was defeated by challenger Phillip Cranmer who won 60% of the vote for the District 3, Post 2 seat.
Mohrig has been under fire for attending a private meeting with two poll workers assigned to this November’s municipal election. The workers later resigned. The councilman says his email was hacked when an invite for the meeting appeared to be accidentally sent from his email address to city officials.
While setting up Milton’s own election for the first time, City Manager Steve Krokoff and City Council held a private meeting in September without public knowledge. The meeting was held to discuss elections preparations and Mohrig’s email investigation, officials said.
The state Attorney General’s Office is now looking into why the meeting took place out of public view.
Johns Creek
Post 2 Councilwoman Stacy Skinner (64%) defeated challenger Devon Dabney (36%) and will serve a second term.
Post 4 Councilwoman Erin Elwood and Post 6 Councilman Chris Coughlin were both reelected after running unopposed.
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