Shane Day and John Thomas will face off in a runoff election April 13 for an open seat on the Whitfield County Commission after the two candidates received 29.4% and 27%, respectively, in Tuesday night's election.
Five people had filed to run for the open seat in District 3. Roger Crossen, the former District 3 commissioner, died in November 2020 of complications from COVID-19.
Day, 49, is the commercial sales director for Tiarco Chemical. Day does not have any previous political experience but is running on the platform of bringing "common sense, better accountability and transparency to our local county government."
Thomas, 57, is the co-owner of Coldwell Banker Kinard Realty. Thomas serves on the Whitfield County Planning Commission and the Dalton Whitfield County Hospital Authority and previously served on the Whitfield County school board from 2007 to 2010.
"I enjoy serving others and want to help Whitfield County continue to grow economically," Thomas said in an email in February. "I want to help ensure that taxpayers' money is being used wisely."
Day and Thomas outperformed Jonathan Bagley (18% of the vote), Shannon Bearfield (16.5%) and Chad "Bubba" Young (8%).
The winner will fill the rest of Crossen's term, which expires Dec. 31, 2022.
County Administrator Mark Gibson said in December that if the remainder of Crossen's term had been less than 12 months, the other commissioners could have appointed someone to fill it.
"Because the remainder of the term is greater than 12 months, a call for a special election will be done," Gibson said. "The seat will remain empty until the election is held."
The election is nonpartisan.
Crossen represented District 3, in the northwest part of the county. Candidates for the commission seat must live in the district they represent.
Elsewhere in the area elections
Voters in Whitfield County also voted down a proposal that would have given the Board of Commissioners the power to create tax allocation districts. The measure failed with 1,986 votes against (58.24%) to 1,395 (40.90%) for. Six percent of registered voters cast a ballot.
Tax allocation districts are defined as areas in the county where real estate property taxes collected above a certain threshold for a certain period of time can be used for specific improvements.
In Murray County, voters overwhelmingly supported a special purpose sales tax for Murray County Schools with 71% of the vote.
Contact Patrick Filbin at pfilbin@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6476. Follow him on Twitter @PatrickFilbin.