A small, but growing, list of candidates is developing as Dunwoody prepares to elect a new mayor in November.
Though qualifying isn’t until late August, two men have decided to announce they will run and another is weighing his options. But had current mayor Ken Wright decided to seek a second term, perhaps none of the men who have thrown their names into the ring would have done so.
Bob Dallas and Mike Davis have both announced intentions to run for mayor in November. James Sibold said he’s considering it, but doesn’t “feel any pressure to make a decision at this time.” All three men said they liked Wright’s leadership and hope the city can continue on a similar course.
David King, a lecturer in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, said in his studies of municipalities a limited pool of candidates could signal the community is generally pleased with the current direction of the city. But it does not neccesarily mean residents are not interested in the political process.
“Most people who run for office are motivated first because they have a vision for the community that is different from what they are actually receiving,” he said. “What has to come now is the realization that the leadership they’ve been pleased with will change.”
During the same election, the residents of Dunwoody will elect three council members. King said there may not be an overwhelming number of people lined up for those seats either, but that’s OK.
“Part of the equation is, people are feeling pretty good about the creation of their city and the way things are going,” he said. Things may be going so well, that people aren’t “self-nominating to make a change.”
But Dallas, Davis and Sibold disagree. They say in the next few weeks, they expect the field to get crowded.
Dallas said because qualifying doesn’t begin for more than a month, “it is not on everybody’s radar yet.”
Sibold said he expects there will be more who decide to run for mayor, and Davis agrees.
“I think we will end up with several people in the race,” he said.
King said the interest in government in smaller citieslike Dunwoody is strong and usually a big part of why these communities branch out in the first place.
“One of the interesting things that is happening outside of Atlanta is, you are creating new governmental jurisdictions, while most of the country is going in the opposite direction and merging services, creating regional school districts, police departments and things like that.” he said. “From my vantage point, these creations are a call for community and a desire for identity outside of the larger county. And that means during the period of creating the city and the first few years afterward there is a developing sense of civic pride and community engagement.”
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