Contributed photo by Earl Henderson / Earl Henderson will become Ringgold's newest city council member in January.The results are in after a Ringgold, Georgia, city council candidate who lost his election by three votes requested a recount last week.
Veteran council member Randall Franks faced incumbent council member Kelly Bomar and former council member Earl Henderson last Tuesday, for two seats.
Bomar took the lead with 285 votes, and Henderson beat Franks, 220 to 217, for the second spot. Franks then requested a recount, as candidates are permitted to do in Georgia if the margin is less than or equal to 0.5%.
(READ MORE: Ringgold City Councilman Randall Franks requests recount after 3-vote loss)
Catoosa County Elections Director Tonya Moore said the results of the recount, held Tuesday morning at 10 a.m. at the county election's office, were the same as those from Election Day.
"We didn't have any changes," she said. "Everything came out exactly the same."
Since the results were upheld, Henderson, a 62-year-old bus driver for Catoosa County Public Schools, remains the second-place finisher and will take a seat on the council when outgoing council members leave office in December.
Henderson previously served on the council from 2014 to 2017, then lost re-election in 2017 and returned to run again this year. During his first term in office, he was the first African American man to sit on the Ringgold City Council.
On Tuesday afternoon after the results of the recount came in, Henderson said he is happy with the results.
"The people voted and spoke, and they voted for me. I feel good about that," he said. "I'll start in January. I want to get my feet wet and see what's going on around me before I start making any plans for things I want to do, and I look forward to the opportunity to do that."
Contributed photo / Councilman Randall Franks will leave office this December.Franks first took public office in July 2009 when he filled the seat of former Vice Mayor Tom Clark and started his first full term in January 2010. He thanked the residents of Ringgold for allowing him to serve as a city council member for so long and through so much local development in a video shared to Facebook at around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday.
He said he was proud of the new additions he was able to help bring to the city's park system, including the extension of several local nature trails. He said he was proud of his work to improve local sidewalks in downtown Ringgold and in the city's mountain neighborhoods, local sewer and water improvements and the development of Ringgold Depot Square, where he said new businesses will eventually join the Jefferson's restaurant that opened there in August.
As an actor, director, author and musician, Franks has always been interested in entertainment and said he is particularly proud of the growth he has seen in Ringgold's entertainment tourism.
"We've brought in thousands of people through our entertainment tourism as well as through our focus on historical tourism. Ringgold has grown by leaps and bounds over the last decade, and it has been my privilege to be a part of that," he said. "I want to thank you for giving back to me."
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Franks' last day on the Ringgold City Council will be Dec. 31.
Contact Kelcey Caulder at kcaulder@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6327. Follow her on Twitter @kelceycaulder.