News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Lori Elder Burnett elected Livingston Mayor Tuesday night, receiving some 48.2 percent of the vote.
“A little surreal at this point,” Burnett said. “It’s been, you know, a few tough weeks where we’re fatigued from, you know, campaigning. But I’m so excited to be the next mayor of Livingston.”
Three new aldermen will be seated later this summer, Rex Dale, Lance Ruble and Arno Proctor. Dale received 29.7 percent of the vote Tuesday. In the battle for the final seat, a total of 15 votes separated Proctor and fourth place candidate Jeramie Reeder.
“Thank goodness, yeah,” Proctor said. “Yeah. Every vote counts.”
Dale said his focus will be continuing to figure out the best way to move the community forward.
“It’s a little nerve wracking,” Dale said. “There’s not a whole lot of things you can compare it to. You’re on your own. You’re out there to stand for yourself and to hopefully get support from the voters that believe that you can do the good job.”
Burnett said her focus will turn to preparing to take over the role as community leader in September. The Livingston Mayor runs the day-to-day operations of the community.
“Just go ahead and dig in and see what I need to start learning to be prepared to take over in September,” Burnett said. “You know, go to the council meetings. Meet with anybody that I can just to learn, you know, what the supervisors do and just start, be really ready to take over in September.”
Ruble received 27.8 percent of the vote Tuesday to finish second as three aldermen were seated.
“I don’t know if anybody’s really ready for it,” Ruble said. “But like I do everything else, I jump, jump in with both feet, hit the ground running. If you’ve ever worked with me, you know I’m a hard worker. I’ll do everything I can for the city of Livingston. I’ll be that listen, ear if anyone needs, and I’ll try to be that voice for them out there.”
A total of 816 residents voted, with the majority using early voting. Elections officials said Tuesday the turnout had been less than expected with a new mayor being elected. Curtis Hayes decided not to run earlier this year.
Proctor said he expected more people to turnout.
“I thought for sure with the mayor race, that we would have significantly more voters,” Proctor said. “But that’s okay. You know, it’s the way it is in life, and that’s just like national elections, you know, we don’t have a much higher percentage than that.”
Burnett outpaced second place vote getter Nathan Dale, who finished with 29.73 percent of the vote.
