Former Gwinnett County Administrator Charlotte Nash won the race for chairman of the county’s Board of Commissioners on Tuesday.
With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Nash won 55 percent of the votes cast, far ahead of Larry Gause, who had about 26 percent of the vote. Candidates Will Costa and Gerald Duane Kissel each finished with less than 10 percent.
To avoid an April 12 runoff election, Nash needed to win more than 50 percent of the vote.
“Bottom line, I’ve been told to step up and take the chairman’s position and go to work,” Nash said late Tuesday. “I’m very pleased we don’t have another month to wait on that. There’s lots of things that need to be dealt with.”
Steady rain dampened early turnout at the polls. Less than 5 percent of registered voters cast a ballot in what some say was Gwinnett’s most important election in years.
Nash will fill the unexpired term of Charles Bannister, who resigned as chairman in October to avoid a perjury charge by a grand jury investigating county land deals. The same grand jury indicted Commissioner Kevin Kenerly on a bribery charge. Kenerly denied wrongdoing but resigned in November.
Public distrust of county government has been the leading issue in the campaign.
Nash, 58, a Dacula Republican, emerged as the candidate to beat. She was the best known of the four candidates and raised nearly $109,000 for her campaign — far eclipsing the other hopefuls.
Nash spent nearly 28 years as a county employee, retiring in 2004. She was the county finance director for 10 years and county administrator for nine.
She later formed a consulting business with former board Chairman Wayne Hill.
Nash cited her experience in and out of Gwinnett government as her chief qualification. She pledged if she won to oppose any property tax increase this year and next and to find ways to cut county spending to balance its budget.
Gause, 49, a Republican from the Tucker area of the county, is a former naval officer. He cited his experience managing budgets in the Navy and in the private sector.
Costa, 42, a Libertarian from Lilburn, campaigned on his experience managing his family’s business, Costa’s Pasta.
Kissel, 56, a Snellville Republican, cited his tenure as assistant chief of the county’s Police Department, where he oversaw public safety budgets.
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