Qualifying week comes to an end; Walter Reynolds officially joins Milledgeville mayoral race

The candidates for mayor are current Mayor Mary Parham Copelan and Walter Reynolds

MILLEDGEVILLE, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — Qualifying week has come to an end in the Milledgeville mayoral race, and another candidate is officially in the race.

Walter Reynolds says he has a lot to bring to the position, having worked in the city for two decades and being a part of the council for more than a decade.

Reynolds says this is an important time in the city’s history, mentioning that this will be the first time in nearly 30 years that three council seats are open, a result of the retirement of two long-serving members.

“The reason why people need to get out and vote is that this next mayor and council will probably be helping to make the decision of who our next city manager is going to be,” he said. “That city manager will ultimately be deciding who your next chief of police, your next fire chief, your next public works director. Many of these folks are in positions where they may be close to retirement, and so, we need strong leadership to make sure that we have the right management in place, not just for the next four years, but potentially the next several decades.”

If elected, his main priorities include addressing infrastructure issues, particularly water main breaks.  Reynolds says when breaks happen, it affects the whole community.

“Making sure that when there’s a water main break, that it doesn’t disrupt services in at our local public schools, our universities, our hospitals, because that creates a major economic impact and disruption, particularly for the parents.,” he said. “I mean, when they have to take time off of work to go pick up the kids and figure out childcare, that’s lost revenue, that’s lost wages and lost time in the classroom for those children.”

Reynolds says another goal if elected is addressing housing and economic development as key issues.

“When there’s not enough housing stock, students end up living in single family neighborhoods,” he said. “They end up living in our communities outside of student housing, and that causes the rent prices to go up for the people that work here and raise families here, and so we need to be looking at more housing stock for student population and also for the full time employees, the people that work here and live here in this community.”

Improving transparency and communication is another focus for Reynolds.

“The city historically has not done a great job when it comes to communicating, either in times of crisis or when things go well,” he said. “We’ve got to do a better job of telling our story, not just when things go well, but also when issues come up. We’ve got to do something beyond communicating on Facebook.”

Reynolds suggested implementing an alert system that would send texts to your phone to relay information to residents.

Qualifying week ended Friday at 4:30 p.m., making the candidates for the 2030 term now set. The candidates for mayor are current Mayor Mary Parham Copelan and Reynolds.