Commissioner-Elect Brian Smith sent in this note after his victory in last night’s Decatur City Commission race…

As we conclude this election season, the most encouraging thing is the number of candidates who were willing to come forward with ideas about how make Decatur even better.   Running for public office is a challenging process, and everyone who ran deserves our thanks for putting themselves and their ideas out there for the public to consider.    If I have learned anything as a candidate it is that politics is  the ultimate team sport, and I want to thank everyone who worked so hard behind their candidate of choice this year.   The single best asset of Decatur is our citizens:  it’s the kind of community where people make their voices heard and raise their hands to help solve problems, and that is frankly a lot more unusual in America these days than it should be.   We are lucky to call this town our home.

Going forward, my goal is to continue the dialogue we began in this campaign around Decatur’s challenges.   Addressing our school facilities’ needs, keeping taxes low on our seniors, building an even more diverse community and supporting effective law enforcement policies are complicated issues.  I need input from my fellow citizens to do it well, and I hope that everyone in our community will continue to keep the ideas we developed this campaign front and center of this discussion.