The Mayor’s seat in Offerman and three council seats in Blackshear, Offerman and Patterson will be up for grabs in this year’s municipal elections. Election Day will be Tuesday, Nov. 7.
All three city councils have set their qualifying fees for this year.
Qualifying for the election will begin at 9 a.m. Monday, August 21 and will run through 4 p.m. Wednesday, August 23. Candidates for all municipal elections may qualify at the Board of Elections office, 312 Nichols Street, Blackshear.
Blackshear
Blackshear council members in Districts 1, 5 and 6 are up for election. Those seats are currently held by Mat Boatright (Dist. 1), Sharon Komanecky (Dist. 5), and Mark Deal (Dist. 6).
Boatright was elected in a special election in 2021 to fill the vacancy created when Keith Brooks was elected as mayor. Brooks formerly represented district one. Komanecky won a special election to fill the vacancy created when former councilman Shawn Godwin was recalled from office. Deal was elected in November to fill the unexpired term of Linda Gail Dennison, who died in office.
The qualifying fee for Blackshear City Council is $72.
Patterson
Seats 1, 3 and 5 in Patterson are up for election. Those seats are currently held by Jake Echols, Chris Mock and Brian Herrin.
Echols will be running for a second full term in his own right. He is currently serving his first four-year term after serving the final two years of Dedi Thomas’s term. Thomas stepped down from his council seat to run for mayor of Patterson.
Mock is currently completing his first term. Herrin was elected last year to fill the unexpired term of Teglas-Duplessis, who died in office. Herrin has said he plans to run for re-election.
Patterson’s qualifying fee is $36.
Offerman
Offerman Mayor Brenda Denison is up for election this year. Denison has served as mayor since shortly after the city was re-chartered in 1996. She said she plans to run for re-election. The qualifying fee for her seat is $35.
Council Post 2 –Vanessa Cason, Post 4 – Fleming Milledge, and Post 6 – Annette Thorne are up for election as well.
Cason and Thorne are completing their fourth terms. Milledge has served since shortly after Offerman was re-chartered.
The qualifying fee for those seats is $25.
Qualifying fees are based on 3 percent of the salary for that particular district, seat or post and vary from city to city.
Early voting will be held Monday, October 16, through Friday, November 3, from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at 312 Nichols Street, Blackshear. Saturday voting will be held October 21 and October 28. The last day to register to vote in this election is Tuesday, October 10.
The polls will open on Election Day from 7 a.m. - 7 p.m. at the Courthouse Annex on Nichols Street for Blackshear elections. Patterson and Offerman City Elections will both take place at Eagle Station in Patterson.
