The Auburn Municipal Election is Tuesday, Aug. 28.
All eight City Council positions and the mayorship are up for election.
With only three incumbents running for re-election and Auburn’s 20-year mayor choosing to not run again, there will be new leadership in Auburn.
Meet the City Council candidates for Ward 6.
Candidates are sorted by the first letter of their last name. Incumbents are denoted with an (I) beside their name.
Answers were not edited for length or content.
Sarah Brown
1. Why did you decide to run for City Council?
After serving in numerous roles for our town, I believe being a City Council representative is the best way to make the most positive impact for the future of our Auburn. An AHS and AU grad, I have experienced Auburn as a student, a resident, a parent, a business owner in downtown, a public servant; as someone who has a deep passion and heart for our “village.” We need rooted, committed leaders to serve the people in Auburn. We need Auburn leaders that possess a servant’s heart. I desire to serve all people of Auburn by being strategic and innovative as we move our town forward alongside Auburn University. I will foster communication, remain open-minded about possibilities and collaborate to create solutions to our challenges keeping what is best for Auburn and our residents as our number one priority.
2. What experience do you have that you think would help you if you are elected to the City Council?
I am a small business owner and understand the needs of small business owners in Auburn. As a previous small business owner of Wrapsody in downtown Auburn, I helped found and grow the Downtown Merchants Association and created many events in downtown Auburn such as Cheers on the Corner, Santa on the Corner and Roar on the Corner. I have served on the Board of our Auburn Chamber of Commerce, working and collaborating to promote business for Auburn, what fundamentally provides the tax base for the services we enjoy. For the last six years I have served on the Auburn Planning Commission and served as chair for more than half of that time. I am an experienced leader, am dedicated to our Auburn and completely rooted in our town. I understand the challenges facing us as neighbors, parents, business owners, students. Anyone who knows me knows that I am always thinking about ways to improve our community.
3. What is the most important issue facing your ward that you would like to address if you are elected?
As I have listened to my neighbors in Ward 6, I feel that these are the things that should be my priority as ward 6 councilwoman:
1. Protection of our neighborhoods and providing improvements to the neighborhoods for safety and walkability
2. Providing accessibility to our downtown so that residents feel that downtown is a beautiful place for all of us to shop, dine, and play.
3. Providing better communication with all the people in Ward 6 so that they feel like their opinion matters, so that they understand what is happening in our town and how it affects them. I would be an accessible, relevant, committed leader.
4. Each council member not only represents their ward and the people who live in it, but ultimately represents our entire town in making common-sense, proactive, strategic decisions to move our town forward in a visionary and positive way.
Brad Donnelly
1. Why I decided to run for City Council?
I ran in 2014 against the Incumbent (Mayor Pro Tem) on the same issues as I am running on today. The Incumbent beat me by only 98 votes in 2014. That was a clear message to the Influence Peddlers and Special Interest groups that at least the citizens of Ward 6 wanted change and a new voice for them. Most of the current Council have been on the bench for 15-25 years and have become tone deaf to the citizens needs and ideas. The citizens have been ignored for far too long by the most of the current leadership and this must change. I have 43 years of experience in city, state and federal law enforcement positions. My last 33 years, I possessed a "Top Secret" security clearance serving and protecting U.S Presidents, U.S. Presidential Nominees and Foreign Dignitaries. I know what "Public Trust" means, how to earn it and how to keep it.
2. What experience do you have that would help you if elected to the City Council?
I have 43 years of law enforcement experience in various positions. I was a Special Agent with the U.S. Secret Service from 1983-1989 and coordinated as the Lead Advance Agent on numerous security events involving the United Nations and other National Security Venues. I was a Special Agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) from 1989-2012 and during that period coordinated bombing and arson task force operations many involving fire and explosion homicides. As a Certified Explosives and Fire Investigator (Expert) I coordinated hundreds of city, state and federal law enforcement agents during National Security Venues such as the 1996 U.S. Summer Olympics, the Super Bowl in Atlanta, GA and the G-8 Summit at Sea Island Georgia to name a few.
3. What is the most important issue facing your ward that you would like to address if you are elected?
Ward 6 is a special ward in and of itself. It consists mostly of residential homes and centers around the Jules Collins Smith Museum, and the original 1950 neighborhoods built by returning WWII Veterans coming back from the war to study and teach at Auburn University. Everyone genuinely loves the peace and tranquility offered by our little corner of Auburn. But, the destruction of the Downtown Toomers Corner and our Heritage Zone downtown by the high rise apartment buildings is very concerning to them. They want more sustainable well-planned, slow, methodical growth going-forward which includes better streets, more parking and better traffic controls. The high rise buildings they feel is a sign of growth and prosperity but want better architectural and landscaping designs in the construction. They would have preferred these buildings have been built west of College Street running west towards Donahue which is the College Corridor proper. Better planning and better infrastructure considerations are a concern by most in Ward 6. Our citizens demand more transparency and accountability from their City Council members. The citizens want to be able to participate in the cities growth considerations and what takes place in their city going forward. After all they are the ones paying the taxes.
Bob Parsons
1. Why did you decide to run for City Council?
I felt that neighborhood voices were not being heard. If you take a look at the players in the city council, the planning commission, and the board of zoning adjustments, you will find that the overwhelming majority of them are involved with the real estate industry, property development, the banking industry, downtown property ownership, property investment, and the construction industry. While I fully understand that there is nothing wrong with these professions, and that they are an integral and necessary component of a prosperous community, it is concerning to me that the business of governing Auburn is performed nearly exclusively through this lens of profit for the few at the expense of many. The familiarity they (developers, elected officials, and their appointees) have with one another, threatens to weaken our neighborhood ordinances, and the character of the Ward.
2. What experience do you have that you think would help you if you are elected to the City Council?
I see serving as an Auburn city councilmember as an extension of my 24-year career in public safety. Since arriving in this country I’ve been employed as a 911 operator in Chicago, a 911 operator in Opelika, a firefighter in Opelika (where I was twice nominated as Firefighter of the Year and awarded Firefighter of the Year in 2015), and now as a fire Inspector in Opelika. Public service is my passion and it is what I do best.
3. What is the most important issue facing your ward that you would like to address if you are elected?
The gradual erosion of the integrity and charm of our neighborhoods. Additionally I would like to restore trust between elected officials and long-term residents by being an enthusiastic, accessible advocate for all people in Ward 6.
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Elizabeth, senior in journalism and political science, is the community editor for The Plainsman
