(WHNT) — Municipal elections will be held across Alabama on Aug. 26.
Voters in North Alabama will be asked to decide on mayoral races, city council races and, in some communities, school board races.
In order to provide voters with detailed information about the candidates running for mayor in 12 North Alabama cities, News 19 sent out a number of candidate questionnaires starting in mid-July.
We are going to post the answers we received over the next 10 days. Not every candidate responded, and that will be noted.
Some answers will also be edited for length, grammar or spelling reasons, but otherwise the content will be published as submitted. Viewer feedback is always welcome.
In Fort Payne, incumbent Brian Baine is facing challenger Pete Davis in the race for Mayor. Baine provided answers to the questions below:
Despite multiple attempts to contact, we did not receive a set of answers from Davis.
1. Please provide a short biography
Baine: I am Brian Baine, and I grew up in Fort Payne. I was the second born to Ralph and Carolyn Baine. I have two brothers and one sister. I went all through school at Fort Payne and graduated in 1987 from Fort Payne High School. I attended Northeast Community College and Gadsden State Community College. Worked for 37 years for Bruce’s Foodland, held various roles through the company, from cashier to stocker to store manager and Accounts Payable/Receivable. When I left there to become Mayor, I was the HR Director for about 400 employees. I am married to Jackie Murray from Rainsville. I have two step-daughters, a grandson and a granddaughter.
2. What led you to run for Mayor?
Baine: I was serving as the President of the City Council and our Mayor did not run for reelection, so I decided to put my name in and got it, I have served this last term as Mayor and I want to continue to lead Fort Payne and finish somethings we have gotten started.
3. What will be your top priority if you are elected?
Baine: To continue to be transparent and keep the public informed of what’s going on in Fort Payne. And continue looking for ways to make Fort Payne keep improving.
4. What are the main challenges currently facing the city? How do you plan to address those issues?
Baine: The main challenges that face Fort Payne is having things for our youth to do and be involved in, I plan to keep reaching out to folks and investors to make sure that we secure some of the entertainment venues to keep our youth around town. Also, we need retail recruitment, we have done some of that but there is more to be done, I will continue to work with our county EDA office to continue those efforts.
5. Do you have a personal hero? Who is it and why?
Baine: My dad would have to be my personal hero. He fought in the Army in Vietnam, and he always worked several jobs to help provide for our family and make sure we always had what we needed to survive.
6. Tell us something about you that might surprise people.
Baine: That I never wanted anything to do with politics when I was growing up.
7. Why should people vote for you? What makes you stand out from the other candidates in the race?
Baine: People should vote for me because I am qualified for the job, and because I have a deep love for the City of Fort Payne. What makes me stand out from other candidates is that I have been involved in community service for more than 20 years by volunteering for various organizations and serving on many different boards throughout the city and the county.
News 19 will be posting more candidate Q&As for mayoral races across the Tennessee Valley in the coming days. You can visit Your Local Election Headquarters to see Q&As with candidates in mayoral races in other cities.
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