Poplarville has new blood
Published 3:52 am Wednesday, June 5, 2013
The election was not a clean sweep, but voters here indicated they wanted a new slate of officials when final results of Tuesday’s election were tabulated.
Newcomer, mayoral Republican candidate Brad Necaise, easily out-polled incumbent five-term mayor Billy Spiers. Necaise tallied 337 votes, or 63.58 percent of the vote, to Spiers’ 192 votes, or 36.23 percent.
For the five aldermanic slots, voters put in three new people, returning only incumbents Byron Wells and Shirley Wiltshire. New faces on the board will be Randy Brown, Jason Pearson, and Margaret Anne Smith.
Brown led the field with 316 votes, or 13.46 percent; followed by Pearson and Wells with 315 votes each, or 13.42 percent; Smith with 295 votes or 12.56 percent, and Wiltshire with 249 votes or 10.60 percent. The remaining candidate results were: Keith Brown, 242 or 10.31 percent; John A. Grant, Jr., 241 or 10.26 percent; John W. Sherman, 236 or 10.05 percent; and Don Lee, 134 or 5.71 percent.
Necaise, Brown, Pearson and Wells are Republican and Smith and Wiltshire are Democrats.
Following the release of the final results, Randy Brown said he is looking forward to what’s in store for the city. “I’ve said it numerous times but I respect everybody that’s been in there (city government) before. I just think that citizens want to go in a different direction and I’m glad that they chose me to be a part of that at this point. I do commend all the work of everybody that was in (before) and everybody that ran.”
Wiltshire said, “This is going to be a new and exciting time in Poplarville. We’ve got some younger people on board so I’m looking forward to what they can bring.” She says the number of new and younger people on the board looks to bring a new energy to the city and to the city board.
The new city board will take over the reins of government on July 1. There will be one more regular meeting of the current board at 5 p.m., June 18.