Contests set for 2 Cave Spring Council posts

Post 4 Councilman Charles Jackson is unopposed for re-election in November.

Two Cave Spring City Council posts will be contested in the Nov. 7 municipal election and a third will be filled without challenge.

The qualifying period closed Wednesday.

City Clerk and Elections Superintendent Judy Dickinson said Councilman Charles Jackson is unopposed for a full fouryear term in the Post 4 seat.

Jackson, a sales representative at OTR Wheel Engineering Inc., first won the seat in a November 2016 special election to serve an unexpired term through the end of this year.

In the Post 3 race, incumbent Nellie McCain is facing a challenge from Marley Pearls, a young homemaker and student.

Post 5 Councilman Mike Ragland did not qualify to run for a new term, but two candidates have stepped up to the plate.

The contest will be between Nancy Fricks, who works at KC Food Store, and Linde Wentz, owner of Linde Marie’s Steakhouse. Fricks unsuccessfully sought the Post 4 seat last year and Wentz has been a frequent speaker at the board’s monthly meetings.

Ragland said he’ll still be helping out at events sponsored by the town he loves, but

it’s time for some new blood on the council. He said he wants to focus on his family and writing columns for Rome News-Tribune and other outlets.

He’s also weighing a run for a Floyd County Commission seat next year.

“I’ve got a whole lot of irons in the fire right now … (and) to

do it right, it requires more time than you’d think,” Ragland said.

Only registered voters within the Cave Spring city limits will be eligible to cast ballots in the races, which are citywide.

Qualifying for the Rome municipal elections continues through 4:30 p.m. Friday at City Hall, 601

Broad St. All three Ward 2 city commission seats and the seven board of education seats are up for grabs. The elections are citywide, although commission candidates must live in the ward.

Two countywide referendums also will appear on the ballot.

There’s a $63.8 million special

purpose, local option sales tax package proposed, and the Rome City and Floyd County school systems are asking for an extension of their 1-cent education local option sales tax to raise up to $80 million.

Voters must be registered by Oct. 10.