Qualifying is currently underway for those interested in running for a seat on the Carrollton Board of Aldermen.
According to Mayor Pam Lee, qualifying will go until 2 p.m. on Wednesday, June 24. Each candidate must collect the names of 15 qualified voters inside the town limits of Carrollton to qualify for the July 14 special election.
Qualifying paperwork can be obtained at Carrollton Town Hall. The winner of the election will serve the final year of Alderman Allen Lee’s term on the board. Municipal elections will be held next spring, with the new term starting July 1, 2021.
On June 2, Lee submitted his resignation, vacating his seat on the board June 30. Lee has been a member of the board for approximately five years.
Lee and his family, wife, April, and sons, Hayden and Carson, are relocating to Grenada, where he is the youth pastor at Friendship Baptist Church. For the past 11-and-a-half years, Lee served as the youth and children’s minister at Carrollton Baptist Church.
“Right now, I’m right where God has led me,” Lee said. “Whatever the Lord has in store for me.”
Lee was elected in a special election to complete the last two years of a four-year term, and in 2018, he was re-elected, serving three years of a four-year term.
Lee said, as a member of the board of aldermen, he is most proud of the town’s efforts in addressing drainage problems throughout the town, thanks to funding from at least three grants.
“The fact that we have tackled our biggest problem – drainage,” Lee said. “We are nowhere near solving the problem, but we are getting it under control.”
Lee said in a town as small as Carrollton and with limited funds, the mayor and board of aldermen have stretched the town’s resources with grant funding, however, the cost to make infrastructure improvements to the city’s drainage system, water system, and streets is beyond what the town’s budget allows.
“Most don’t understand the magnitude of these projects and the cost,” Lee said.
Over the years, the board of aldermen has worked to tackle large projects when funds were available, either by prioritizing projects annually through the budget or through grant funding. Lee said he hopes the board will continue this tradition.
“I hope the board will continue this progress,” Lee said. “Don’t focus on the past and keep looking at the future. Even big and daunting projects can be done if you continue trying. The board needs to move forward, and the town needs to continue to support them in their efforts to do it.”
