Who’ll be the mayor of Danville for next two years? Who’ll be the vice-mayor? Most importantly of all, where will everybody sit?
All of these answers are coming to you LIVE! today. The meeting starts at noon, and SouthsideCentral starts our coverage earlier than that.
Refresh the page for the latest happenings!
Let’s start our LIVE! coverage!
We’re here before anyone else.
The oath of office and seat numbers for the random draw.
James Buckner arrives for his oath of office.
Clerk Sue DeMasi geys things going.
Electoral Board Chairman Sylvesta Jennings presents the Certificate of Elections.
Oath of office time.
City Attorney Clarke Whitfield conducts the election for mayor.
Fred Shanks nominates Buddy Rawley. John Gilstrap nominates Sherman Saunders.
Sherman Saunders is elected mayor on a 5-4 vote.
Buddy Rawley nominates Lee Vogler for vice mayor. Larry Campbell nominates Gary Miller.
Gary Miller elected as vice mayor on a 5-4 vote.
Random drawing for seating location now.
From left to right: Campbell, Shanks, Miller, Buckner, Rawley, Vogler, Jones, Gilstrap. First four on our left side, last four on our right.
Around the horn time. Nothing special by anybody except greetings to Buckner. Buckner’s first around the horn speech? Nothing!
Changing my mind on that. Will recap these around the horn speeches later.
More coming up on SouthsideCentral!
Well let’s hope those random seat numbers produce the correct racial breakdown so no one is offended. Some things you simply cannot explain.
As I understand it, Lee Vogler announced his candidacy for Vice Mayor on Facebook yesterday. Could the Alonzo Jones and Lee Vogler joint appearance yesterday at the school board be a sign of a pact between the two of them to take the reins as Mayor and Vice Mayor?
Eh so much for that conspiracy theory huh?
Smile for the dude in the red shirt… He wants to take pictures. they will be on facebook later today.
Where is the live coverage? It is after 12:00
Can we get some specifics on the 5-4 votes? Were they the same 5 in the majority each time? What was the break down? The voters may want to know who to re-elect or vote out in two years, and those of us who are county residents may just want to see what slightly more functional government than the Board of Supervisors looks like.
So, who gets the seats that are always in view of the camera?
Gilstrap nominated Saunders for Mayor, Shanks nominated Rawley. Vote 5-4. Saunders voted for himself along with Campbell, Gilstrap, Jones and Miller. Rawley voted for himself, Along with Buckner, Vogler, and shanks. For Vice Mayor Campbell Nominated Miller, Rawley Nominated Vogler. Votes were the same.
I’m just getting warmed up to council affairs. Does that roughly work out to who is a Democrat and who is a Republican?
I think that’s a generally accurate observation.
That’s a little disappointing in that local politics isn’t supposed to be all about that, but the way council functions often isn’t down party lines like that. This is more about who is in leadership, so that works. I still think maybe after the next election when one of the other older members gets picked off, a Jones/Vogler ticket could gather enough votes to usurp control for a younger generation.
Gilstrap hinted to me last week that Sherman would be re-elected. I had not idea he would though. Guess I was wrong.
A Jones/Vogler ticket probably won’t happen in the future either unless it just happens by chance…IJS
Really disappointed Vogler didn’t get chosen as Vice Mayor. He would have brought a good balance to the council with Mayor Saunders and served as a great leader for young people. For a Council that is always talking about promoting young people, attracting young people and embracing them…they sure have a funny way of showing it.
We the people, were behind you Councilman Vogler and will continue to be! Stay strong and keep fighting for all of us.