Mike Kelley won the mayor’s race in Baldwin Tuesday with 122 votes.
Jerry Neace had 57 votes; former mayor Mark Reed had 14 votes; and Thomas Loudermilk had 11 votes. Some 204 of the town’s 1,023 voters cast a ballot in the called election.
“I want to be mayor of Baldwin because I care enough about our community and our
quality of life to be a leader in protecting the interests of the citizens of
Baldwin, Kelley said.
Kelley said finances will be one of the key issues he addresses as mayor.
“We first need to stop spending more than the income generated by the city,” he said.
“We need to carefully consider all current expenditures and make cuts where needed.
All expenditures, currently being funded, need to be put under scrutiny. Cuts
should be made where the best interests of our city are not being considered
first.”
Kelley said he supports having a city manager for Baldwin.
“Much of the day to day functioning of Baldwin can and should be done by a
professional city manager,” he said. “I have the experience and skills necessary to
rebalance the current budget in order to hire such a qualified individual. Next
we may have to change the city charter to allow for a city manager and give them
appropriate power to conduct business for the city. The current situation has
been years in the making and cannot be changed overnight. The hiring process
warrants taking the time to hire someone who is not cutting their managerial
teeth on our city. We need to look for an individual with both maturity of
experience and professional demeanor.”
Kelley is a small business owner and partner in Kelley Asset Protection &
Investments, LLC. The company provides investment advice to businesses and individuals. He
has been a licensed stock broker since 1997. He is also an Army
Reservist,serving in an Individual Military Augmentation (IMA) position as a
Civil Affairs Officer. His current orders have him assigned as an instructor at Ft
Bragg, N.C., teaching Civil Affairs Officers and NCOs. He plans to
retire from the Army Reserve in the near future.
Kelley and his wife, Victoria, have five children and three grandchildren.
