Lithonia voters pick new mayor

Tonya Peterson has been elected mayor of Lithonia, capturing 32 percent of the vote in a six-way race.

Peterson won 93 votes in Tuesday’s special election to lead the southern DeKalb County city that has been in financial chaos for more than two years. The city of about 2,300 teetered on bankruptcy in 2005. It has operated all year without an official city budget.

A 39-year-old property manager who also serves as a chaplain’s assistant in the Air Force Reserve, Peterson said getting the finances and other documents up to date will be her first order of business.

“Only once we get our house in order can we invite others into our house,” Peterson said. “We’ve been in the wilderness a little too long.”

Peterson was one of five City Council members who became locked in a power struggle with Mayor Joyce McKibben last fall, after McKibben tried to fire the city police chief. The council immediately reinstated him, but the power struggle ground routine city business to a halt for months. Voters ousted McKibben from office in September, after just nine months in office.

McKibben ran again in the special election, winning 16 percent of the 289 votes cast, according to DeKalb County elections officials.

Health care consultant Rhonda Peek, who lost to McKibben last year by two votes, was second Tuesday with 61 votes, or 21 percent.

An election now must be held to replace Peterson on the council.