Smyrna Mayor: We will have a town hall meeting

The final Smyrna City Council meeting of the month is tonight and on the agenda will be the approval of the recording of the official general election results from Nov. 8.

The 7:30 p.m. meeting will also be televised live on Charter Communications Public Access Channel 19 and the full agenda can be viewed here.

The Cobb Board of Elections verified Friday that Ward 1 defeated challenger John Miller to retain her council seat. Council members and from Wards 3 and 6 respectively, ran unopposed and again will be sworn in in January.

Likewise for newcomer , who ran unopposed for the Ward 2 council seat. There will be at least three new council members and possibly four, as there will a runoff election to determine the winner of the city council seats for Ward 4, 5 and 7 on Dec. 6.

Early voting at the begins Monday, Nov. 28 and ends on Friday, Dec. 2.

is facing in Ward 4. and are in the Ward 5 runoff, while and are seeking the Ward 7 seat.

“This is an important election and elections have consequences,’’ Osborne said. “I have lived in Smyrna for 34 years. It has been a great place to live and raise a family. My goal as a city councilman is to make sure it continues to be a great “hometown” for generations to come.’’

And then there’s , who survived a good deal of mud-slinging to easily turn back his opponents, Donna Woodham and Alex Backry. Bacon garnered 75 percent of the votes to Woodham’s 17 percent and Backry’s 7 percent.

Having served as the Jonquil City’s mayor since 1985 and in office in Smyrna for 32 years, Bacon is excitedly optimistic about the next four years.

“I’m from Smyrna and I grew up here,’’ he said. “I’m not going anywhere. I don’t have a big machine here in Smyrna. I’m just an old Smyrna boy. I know it sounds corny but it’s true. I’m very energized. I think the city council campaigns have energized the neighborhoods. That encourages me.’’

In the last year, Bacon has been quick to credit the current council for making financially prudent decisions to help better steer Smyrna through the current economic recession. He says it's important to keep bringing the “right types of businesses to Smyrna’’ and to “increase the tax base.

He says with its mammoth Kroger set to open in less than two months is a nice “bump,’’ but “we need to get something started on South Cobb Drive. We need to continue to market Hickory Lakes.’’

Despite his runaway win in the election, Bacon understands that he’ll always have his detractors. Those critics have regularly used the citizen comment portion of council meetings to lambaste the mayor and council.

“I don’t think that will ever stop,’’ noted Bacon. “We’re going to continue to have the same people that are bitter for some reason and I don’t know why. There were some speakers at the last meeting that were so bitter. I thought one of the speakers was going to stroke out. Makes you wonder what did anybody do to them. But it’s a great country and people can express what they want to express. God bless us for that.’’

Still, Bacon has heard the complaints from citizens over the lack of town hall meetings staged by the City. He told Patch that he would help organize one early in the new year.

“I’ll have a town hall meeting within 60 days of being sworn in,’’ he said. “I want more people involved; we want to hear from them. It’s not like we want to shut people out. I need all the help I can get as mayor.’’

What he doesn’t want is to have a town hall meeting where people stand up at the microphone and “scream and yell and badger you.’’

“A town hall to me is to talk about the issues with the citizens and get positive feedback,’’ Bacon said. “What I don’t need is negative, untruthful information. There’s a small percentage in Smyrna that gets attention that I will never make happy. They can believe what they want to believe. We have a lot of opportunity here. I still believe Smyrna is the best place to live anywhere in the state and maybe the southeast.

“I work pretty hard for my town. Smyrna has always been a great city to live in. The core people who have been here are great. I look forward to the next four years and we’ll see what happens.’’