City Council elections always make me wonder. This year is no different. The people of Snellville have been lucky because there have always been good candidates and sooner or later, they get elected. The good candidates have a history of being involved with the city and have served on one of it’s boards or commissions or have volunteered for years at city events. On the other hand, there are often candidates who make a variety of claims, but don’t know a thing about the city, have never been on a board or commission and are clueless about what city governments can do and can’t do. If elected these people do more harm than good.
Following is a list of candidates for the 2023 city council election with a short description of their backgrounds.
Mayor Barbara Bender has worked for many years to bring good things to Snellville. Before being elected mayor, she served on the city council for the past 12 years and has served as mayor for the past 5 years. No one is running against her so she will be mayor for the next 4 years.
City Council Post 1 present council member Dave Emanuel, who also served as Mayor Pro Tem has been a council member for three terms (12 years). The city charter limits council members to three terms so he cannot run for re-election. Three people have qualified to run for Post 1.
Norman Carter has served on Snellville’s Board of Appeals and the Parks and Rec Board. He had to resign when he qualified to run for city council, as required by the city. Carter is an Army veteran and worked as a Philadelphia police officer for 25 years.
Catherine Hardrick ran unsuccessfully for city council in 2021. She is a veteran and has never served on a city board or commission and has volunteered rarely at the Farmers Market.
Elizdine Heathington has never served the city in any capacity. We could find no information about her except that she previously lived in Michigan and Lawrenceville.
City Council Post 2 Solange Destang is running for reelection. She has served on the city council since 2019. Based on the videos of council meetings that we have reviewed, she apparently does not work well with other council members and often seems out of touch.
Kerry Hetherington was member of the Snellville Planning Commission and was elected Chairwoman by the other members of the commission. (She had to resign when she qualified to run for city council. She also served on the Snellville Arts Commission and as a volunteer at a variety of city events.
We received some strange comments on this article. They will not be published because we do not publish comments from people who use a name that is obviously made up to hide their identity.
I appreciated the candor of Ken Stepp’s analysis on candidates. I didn’t see this till after I voted but it corroborated my own instincts and made me feel good I voted the way I did.