CUMMING, Ga. — The Cumming General Election is upon us, and one race that has everyone talking is city councilman, post 3. It’s up between Joey Cochran, Jason May, and Brent Patrick. Each of the candidates met with 11Alive to discuss their platform and why the voters should choose them.
“I have lived here all my life,” Cochran said. “All my family are here. I own a business, Downtown Auto Sales and a family business C&W Auto Sales. I'm running for city council because I want to make a difference in the community that has supported me and encouraged me. I know the community well, and I feel like I have a connection with the people here. I would like to implement smart city solutions that would help with traffic flow. I would like to keep our taxes at zero and improve our infrastructure with the roads, work with the community and other leaders, state and local leaders, to help with the intersections.”
“I got into this race after years of planning to run for the city council,” May said. “My first-time thoughts came across when I was 18 in high school talking to friends about one day joining this council and bringing our expertise and experience. I am the only candidate with civil engineering, land planning, traffic expertise to be able to help bring some of that knowledge to continue to help our city grow in a controlled format so that we can stay ahead of what our infrastructure and traffic needs are. I hope to be able to also encourage more business growth so we can maintain a balanced tax digest and continue to support and will always support zero taxes in the city of Cumming. I moved here when I was 12 years old. I graduated from Forsyth Central and went to Southern Tech University of Georgia and worked in my family's business which was the largest civil engineering firm land planning and surveying firm in Forsyth County for more than 2.5 decades. I hope that I can count on each and every one of you all to get out there today and get informed on all the candidates that are running so that you can make an educated decision on who you think will best prioritize your concerns. I see some of those concerns as growth, some of those challenges as traffic, additional business, and how we can modernize our City but still respect the existing rights and community that's already developed and lived here and made the city such a popular place to be.”
“I got involved about a year-and-a-half ago when Troy Brumbalow was running for mayor,” Patrick said. “It piqued my interest and I wanted to see what all the talk was about, so I learned a little bit about the processes and what was needed in the inner city, and what people felt like they weren't getting across with the current city council. So I decided to throw my name in the ring and I’ve been learning more and more about the processes, meeting some of the most fabulous people that live in the city of Cumming, and just trying to see what it is that they need done and what is important for the inner city. I've lived here for the past three years in my current neighborhood. I'm a resident of Cumming for about 9 years. I have a family, I coach football, wrestling, and baseball. We’re entrenched in the community, and because my family is here, I thought I'd get involved. I've always been good at looking at what other people are doing, finding out what's good and bad about it, and then following what's good. I'm in construction, been in construction since 1991. I graduated from UGA and got out and decided to form a construction business, so I know all about the codes and things like that that have to be adhered to when you're going to be building or expanding roadways and infrastructure in the city. I'm just grateful to be a part of the race. I hope everything works in my favor but if not, I will support whoever gets in there.”
People living in city limits can vote early at Cumming City Hall, Monday through Friday between 8 and 5 p.m. Hours will be extended on Election Day, November 5th.
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