Grand Ridge gets new mayor

Grand Ridge has voted a new mayor — maybe.

Chris Wright was elected mayor with 145 votes Tuesday; incumbent mayor James Barwick received 54 votes. An amended town charter received more “no” votes than “yes,” by 128 votes, leaving the town’s original charter from 1951 in place. There were 35 votes for the change to the charter, and 163 votes against.

If that’s the case, said some of the town’s officials, Wright cannot be mayor — at least, not yet.

According to City Manager J.R. Moneyham, the purpose of the amendment to the 1951 charter was “to bring it to the 2000s,” which included changing the town’s bylaws to allow the public to vote for mayor.

“But as the charter stands now, the mayor must be elected by the seated commission,” Moneyham said.

He said the amendment would have changed that rule, so that the town’s registered voters could directly elect the mayor.

Since the amended charter was not approved, Wright will have to wait until June, when the five commissioners will appoint a mayor, Moneyham said.

Technically, Wright is now one of the five commissioners.

In his campaign, Wright himself opposed the amended charter.

The Floridan asked Wright Tuesday if he was aware that if the referendum didn’t pass, he could not technically be the mayor if elected.

“When I’ve been to the meetings and asked for copies (of the amendment), they were rewording it every time. That’s why I’m out here right now with a sign that says not to vote for it,” Wright said Tuesday. “I don’t know what it says now because I haven’t looked at it. But when I read it a while back, it said something along the lines of a town president instead of a mayor.”

Moneyham said the charter amendments have been addressed at public work sessions for about four years, and were “heavily” advertised to the public along the way.

Wright said he’s not the only resident who doesn’t know what the final draft of the amendment says.

“The town’s not involving the residents of the town. The town people don’t go to work shops. The town’s management should have mailed copies or hand delivered it. The residents don’t want to read it advertised in a paper or go to a work shop,” Wright said.

On the election ballot, Wright argues, the race between Barwick and Wright is listed under the category of “mayor.”

“They can’t tell the people that’s what they’re voting for and then take it back,” Wright said. “They can’t deny me this.”

He said town officials are using the rules of the original town charter against him because they might not want him in as mayor.

“They’ve let the residents vote for the mayor for the last 25 years, in spite of what the charter said. They can’t up and change that on a technicality today because I win,” Wright said. “They let the residents elect Ducky Johnson, Edenfield. Kenny Stephens was appointed and James Blunt was, but that’s because nobody stepped up and ran against them.”

Wright said he plans to initiate a petition.

“We’ll see what happens when that petition says they done voted me in as mayor,” Wright said. “They can’t ignore what they been doing the past 25 years just cause they might not like the outcome this time.”

The amended town charter also addressed city limits, incorporating all of the property that has been annexed into the town since 1951 into the charter’s wording.

The amended charter also defines the city manager’s role as an executor of the commission’s direction, and a liaison between the commission and the public.