Saturday, May 7, 2011

City of Dunwoody Prepares to Hold Municipal General Election

Thinking of Running for Office?

Ms. Sharon Lowery the Dunwoody City Clerk announced Friday in a press release that the qualifying period to throw your name in the hat to become the Mayor of Dunwoody or an at large City Council member is the week of August 29th to September 2nd.  I already received a call asking about the compensation which was implied but not specifically stated as the Mayor receiving $16,000 per year and the Council Members receiving $12,000.  If you are interested in serving and have other questions, please don't hesitate to talk to me or Ms. Lowery.
The City of Dunwoody will hold a Municipal General Election on Tuesday, November 8, 2011 for the purpose of electing a representative to serve as Mayor (currently held by Ken Wright), a representative to serve as City Council Post 4 (currently held by Robert Wittenstein), City Council Post 5 (currently held by Danny Ross), and City Council Post 6 (currently held by John Heneghan).

The qualifying period opens on Monday, August 29, 2011 at 8:30 a.m. and closes on Friday, September 2, 2011 at 4:30 p.m. The hours of qualifying each day are 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Any person desiring to run for office shall qualify in the office of the City Clerk by filing a Notice of Candidacy (Georgia Election Code 21-2-132). The qualifying fee for Mayor is $480.00 (four hundred eighty dollars); the qualifying fee for a Council post is $360.00 (three hundred sixty dollars), which is 3% of the total gross salary of the preceding year (Georgia Election Code 21-2-131).

The qualifications to run for office include: candidate must be a resident of the City of Dunwoody for a continuous period of at least 12 months immediately prior to the date of the election; candidate must continue to reside in the City of Dunwoody during their period of service; candidate must continue to be registered and qualified to vote in the municipal elections of the City of Dunwoody. In addition, no person will be eligible to serve as a council member representing a council district unless that person has been a resident of the district they seek to represent for a continuous period of at least six months immediately prior to the date of the election and continues to reside in their district during their period of service.

The last day for a person to register to vote in the Municipal General Election and, if necessary, Runoff Election, is Tuesday, October 11, 2011 (Georgia Election Code 21-2-224(a)). Registration forms are available at Dunwoody City Hall, 41 Perimeter Center East, Suite 250, Dunwoody, Georgia 30346; through the Chief Registrar of DeKalb County, Georgia or through the Georgia Secretary of State website: www.sos.georgia.gov/elections.

The polls will open for the November 8 Municipal General Election at 7:00 a.m. and will close at 7:00 p.m. at your designated voter precinct. If no candidate receives a majority vote, then a runoff election will be held on Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at the same precinct locations.

Voters will be allowed to vote by absentee ballot by making application for an absentee ballot, reasons for voting absentee are not required. The application must be in writing using the application form provided by the State or by written request and may be made in person, by mail, or by fax. The form can be found at www.sos.georgia.gov/elections.

Advance voting begins on Monday, October 17, 2011 at 8:30 a.m. and closes on Friday, November 4, 2011 at 4:00 p.m. at the DeKalb County Voter Registration and Elections Office, 4380 Memorial Drive, Suite 300, Decatur, GA 30032.

For questions or for more information please contact Sharon Lowery, City Clerk, at 678-382-6711 or Sharon.lowery@dunwoodyga.gov.

1 comment:

John Heneghan said...

If someone wanted to learn the ins and outs of how the City of Dunwoody operated, they should study the addendum to the RFP for Municipal Government Services Procurement which was just released. It answers in detail the 221 questions asked by potential bidders and provides policy documents to back up most of the answers.

Great document to show how the City of Dunwoody oversees contracted municipal services.

Municipal Government Services Procurement Addendum 1

.