For the first time in more than seven months, the Waycross City Commission has all its members.
Its fifth and final representative was determined Tuesday, December 3 with the election of Shawn Roberts in a runoff for the District 1 seat. The Waycross native collected 143 votes in the balloting to finish well ahead of Jené Walker, who had 59 in the special election.
The seat had been vacant since the death of Norman E. Davis, April 20. Davis had represented the district since 2006.
“I very much appreciate the support of the people in District 1,” Roberts said. “I’ll do the best I can to represent them the way they have been (by Commissioner Davis).”
The Ware County Board of Elections and Registration certified the vote totals as official shortly after all were counted Tuesday evening, Chairman Danny Bartlett said.
Roberts, an engineer with CSX, was sworn in Friday morning, December 6 in City Hall. His first meeting was Monday, December 9 in a called session.
Roberts said he’d spent a lot of time speaking with members of the district about key issues.
“The main priority will be on the youth to start the ball rolling,” he said. “There seems to be a lot that could be done there.”
Roberts, holding public office for the first time, had 55 votes in the three-day advance period, 41 by absentee and another 47 on election day. Walker had 18 in advance, 32 absentee and nine Tuesday.
The 202 total votes cast represented only 14 percent of the district’s 1,444 eligible voters.
Roberts and Walker emerged from a threecandidate race which included Willie Oliver to qualify for the runoff after none of the three garnered more than 50 percent of the votes in the November 5 General Election.
A retired veteran of the U.S. Air Force Reserves, Roberts led with 322 votes (40.5 percent) to 239 (30.06 percent) for Walker. Oliver was just behind with 232 votes (29.18 percent).
The seat’s term expires December 31, 2025, meaning Roberts will have to be re-elected next year to continue in the seat.
