LAURINBURG — The first day of municipal election filing had two candidates officially begin their campaigns to win a seat on the Laurinburg City Council.
Mary Evans and James Garby have both filed with the Scotland County Board of Elections to run for two separate seats on Laurinburg’s council.
They were the only candidates to file, according to county election officials.
Evans is running for the District One seat currently held by J.D. Willis and Garby is running for the council’s at-large seat, which is currently held by Dee Hammond.
According to Evans, she is running to make Laurinburg a better place to live.
“I believe that the taxpayers of the city of Laurinburg deserves someone on the council who cares about them and will advocate for honesty and transparency about how their monies are spent and not behind their banks, especially since the mayor can no longer do so,” Evans said.
“I further disagree with council’s already spending of $650,000 on drawings instead of building up our city to make it a better place to live and raise our children.”
Evans, a graduate of I. E. Johnson High School’s class of 1968 and North Carolina A&T State University’s class of 1977, has previously served on the Scotland County Board of Education as vice chair. She is also the secretary of the Scotland County Democratic Women, as well as the Laurinburg Crime and Drug Committee vice president, and she is a member of Cross Point Church in Laurinburg.
Garbysaid he wants to improve Laurinburg by lowering taxes, introducing more recreation and lowering crime.
“Over the past year , I have been attending city council meetings and have spoken several times against the new City Hall,” Garby said. “I feel the city could and should do more to improve the quality of life, with improved crime fighting techniques , more recreation and lower taxes and utilities. If the money is spent the way the citizens want it spent, I believe Laurinburg can be great again.”
Garby serves on the Laurinburg Crime and Drug Committee and completed the Citizens Academy program earlier this year. He is a member of the Northview Harvest Ministries Church.
The period for filing began Friday and will remain open until July 21 at noon.
Filing fees for the upcoming municipal elections are $25 for Laurinburg, $18 to run for mayor and $12 to run for town commissioner East Laurinburg, $5 to file for Wagram, and $15 for Gibson.
