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Politics & Government

Two Candidates Emerge for Mayor of Watkinsville

Oconee County Democratic Committee Chairman Dan Matthews and Charles Ivie, a district sales manager for Baldwin Filters, will compete for the mayoral office in Watkinsville.

Voters in will have to choose between two candidates running for mayor on the Nov. 8 ballot, after the former Oconee County Democrats Chairman Dan Matthews qualified to run for the seat Wednesday afternoon.

Matthews,will run against , a district sales manager for Baldwin Filters and former city council member, who also qualified this week.

The candidates will be vying for a seat that will be vacated by outgoing Mayor at the end of this year.

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In , Mike Beall, a retired University of Georgia Golf Course superintendent, qualified to run for mayor and faces no opposition.

Current North High Shoals Mayor Kim Kraeling has planned to leave her post leading the town of 600 people at the end of this year.

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There will be no races for city council in Watkinsville and North High Shoals, however.

In Watkinsville, City Council Member Brian Brodrick, who heads the Athens office of the public relations firm Jackson Spalding, is running for his fifth two-year term for the Post 1 seat. Current Post 2 City Council Member Henry Norman, is running also running again.

Jason Wisniewski, a Department of Natural Resources biologist, is running unopposed for another term on the Post 1 city council seat, and , a data manager for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is the lone candidate for the Post 2 seat.

Earlier today in Bogart, city council member TL Turman qualified to run for another term. The qualifying period for Bogart mayor and city council ends Friday.

While the qualifying period has come to an end in Watkinsville and North High Shoals, there still is time for other interested candidates to join the race as write-in candidates. To be a write-in candidate, interested parties would need to file a notice of write-in candidacy by Sept. 9 at each respective city hall.

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