Ruling out one office run
Germantown Alderman Dean Massey won’t seek re-election for seat.
Germantown Alderman Dean Massey will not be seeking re-election for his current seat this fall. But he hasn’t ruled out running for another seat on the Board of Mayor and Aldermen.
Massey first said he would not seek another term as the position 3 alderman on Facebook and confirmed the post to The Commercial Appeal on Wednesday morning.
He said he has thought for the past several months that if he does run again it would be for the position 4 or 5 seats that are also up for election in November.
Those seats are currently occupied by Aldermen Forrest Owens and Rocky Janda.
However, Massey said running for one of those two seats is a decision he
would have to make with his wife. He was firest elected to the board in 2016.
The announcement follows a series of contentious Board of Mayor and Aldermen meetings in which Mayor Mike Palazzolo turned off Massey’s microphone multiple times while he was speaking.
At a meeting on Monday, Massey was interrupted multiple times as he spoke about the Thornwood development by Owens and Alderwoman Mary Anne Gibson, who said his comments were not related to the topic at hand.
In the post on Facebook, Massey said he tried to be “more transparent and straightforward so people don’t have to guess about my positions or how I’ll vote.”
“If the majority would simply allow me to speak without rudely interrupting, I would state my position and move on,” he wrote.
“It is easy to compromise and be liked by all sides, and that’s probably a good trait for someone who enjoys playing politics, but I never agreed to take on these responsibilities because I wanted to play politics.”
Planning commissioner Sherrie Hicks announced on Facebook that she will be running for the position 3 seat.
“I believe in Germantown. I believe we are one of the greatest towns in our nation and I want to keep it that way,” she wrote.
“I will run a positive campaign and hope to unite our city. We can achieve even more when we work together.”
Corinne Kennedy is a reporter for The Commercial Appeal.