Mayor Pro-Tem Kecia Cunningham resigned from the Decatur City Commission at the conclusion of last night’s meeting after 16 years of public service.
You can listen to her words yourself HERE under the “Reports and Other Business” tab.
Big thanks to the Mayor Pro-Tem for her years of service and all the best to her in the future.
h/t: Decaturish
No surprises in the Decatur City Commission vote for Mayor and Mayor Pro-Tem last night.
The Commission re-elected Jim Baskett for a third year-long term at the meeting. Kecia Cunningham was also re-elected the city’s Mayor Pro-Tem.
Perhaps this is a good occasion to read through the bio’s of all of our standing city commissioners. You can do so HERE at your leisure.
Photos courtesy of the City of Decatur website
Jim Baskett was unanimously voted Decatur’s new mayor this evening in a 3-0 vote by his fellow commissioners. That was quickly followed by a unanimous vote for Kecia Cunningham to be the city’s new mayor pro-tem. Baskett takes the place of outgoing Mayor Bill Floyd, who had been Decatur’s mayor for the past 14 years. Here’s the City of Decatur website’s official bio for the city’s new mayor and now longest serving commissioner…
Jim Baskett was elected to the City Commission in 1995 and has served as Mayor Pro Tem since 2002. As Commissioner he has served on the Taskforces for Greenspace, Infill Housing, and Scottish Rite redevelopment, Preservation Corridor and the Woodlands Committee.
Jim is a Founder of the DeKalb Library Foundation and served as chair of the DeKalb County Library System Board of Trustees. He is a graduate of Leadership DeKalb and the Regional Leadership Institute and currently serves on the Board of Directors of Decatur First Bank. He served on the Board of Directors of Our House, Inc., Leadership DeKalb, and is a past president of the South Candler Street Neighborhood Association.
After graduating from The Candler School of Theology, he studied social ethics and political thought at Emory University. Jim and his wife, Mickey, live in the historic South Candler district and can be seen around town driving their electric GEM car.
Two years ago, Decatur hosted two interesting and informative city commission races along with two closely watched school board races.
This year, even with three city commissioners up for re-election, all are running unopposed, according to a requested list from the City Manager of candidates who qualified prior to today’s 4:30p.
Qualifying for Decatur City Commission:
Qualifying for School Board:
As you can see, the only race inside the city limits will be between Garrett Goebel and Peggy Bumgardner, who will vie for John Ahmann’s vacated spot. District 2’s Julie Rhame will also run unopposed for her School Board seat.
If you’ve driven/biked/walked anywhere around the southern end of West Commerce lately, you’ll certainly have noticed the ongoing construction at Allen Wilson that’s forced traffic down to one lane along that strip.
Well, Commissioner Kecia Cunningham noted at Monday’s City Commission Meeting that the Decatur Housing Authority had secured financing and started construction on “The Oliver House” over at Allen Wilson. That name “Oliver House” rang a few dusty bells in the deep recesses of my head, so I headed onto the information superhighway for a quick refresher in ongoing DHA construction projects.
Thankfully I quickly came upon this picture taken by InDecatur back in March 2010. I had personally forgotten how different these senior living apartments would look compared to the already completed phase of Allen Wilson towards the southern end to the site, so I thought I’d post a refresher for all!
OK, maybe I should have combined these all into one post!
I just received word from District 2 Commissioner Kecia Cunningham that she would also be running for reelection in the fall. This means all current sitting Decatur commissioners up for reelection will run again.
Will any of these sitting commishes have competition this year? Only time will tell!
From Monday’s AJC…
Kecia Cunningham, Decatur’s second ever African-American commissioner, said Monday she’s concerned about the recent census revealing a diminishing minority population.
It’s particularly dramatic in Decatur’s southwest corridor that’s gone from 70 percent minority and 30 percent white in 2000 to a 70-30 white-minority ratio in 2010. “We are basically losing our long-time African American neighborhoods,” she said. “We are a city that’s long prided itself on diversity, yet when the rubber meets the road, we’re not living up to that promise. We’re becoming more of a homogenous middle-class city.” Bill Banks for the AJC
Thanks to Karass for pointing it out!
