Leesburg citizens voting for a new mayor for the first time in over a decade

LEESBURG, Ga. – For the first time in over a decade, it’s up to the citizens of Leesburg to vote and determine who will be their mayor. Two candidates have qualified to run in this special election, March 24, called to fill the Leesburg mayor’s seat vacated by Jim Quinn. The elected candidate will complete the remaining two years in Quinn’s term as Leesburg’s mayor.

Candidate Billy Breeden is a life-long Leesburg resident with over seven years spent serving on Leesburg’s City Council, and his opponent Michael Revell is a family man and business owner from nearby Albany with a strong passion for improving the city he now calls home.

Source: Billy Breeden

Breeden says he’s running for mayor because he enjoyed acting as Leesburg’s Mayor pro tem for two years and says his experience makes him a good fit.

“I decided we’d go ahead and run for it since I had some experience. I went before the council members and they was all for me so I decided to start running,” Breeden said.

Breeden’s been a part of a number Leesburg enhancements like restoring the train depot, improving water pressure for residents and building a new public works building. But he doesn’t want to stop there.

He says infrastructure improvements need to be made near the schools.

“With the school system we’re putting in sidewalks at the soccer field and caution lights,” he said.

He also wants to improve the overall look of the downtown area.

He says he’s “trying to get the downtown built up and looking good with sidewalks and new buildings and stuff. Painted buildings.”

He says his political experience helps him know “who to call and how to get it,” as far as making the improvements go and “hopefully” he can add a recreation center on the 100 acres that was purchased by the city.

Breeden says what he loves most about Leesburg are the connections he’s made with the residents.

“I’m for the city and people of Leesburg and I’m trying to get better for them.”

Source: Michael Revell

Revell is a busy husband, business owner and parent to twins and a high schooler but he wants to take time to address Leesburgs’ needs as Mayor. He may not come from a political background but Revell says he regularly attends city council meetings and that his lack of political experience is actually a benefit for the citizens.

“I’m not caught up in the status quo,” he says voters should ask themselves just how effective the council’s been in Leesburg’s growth, “What have those people done for you? What has really happened?”

As mayor, Revell says he would hold council members and the city manager “accountable” for “executing the orders of the citizens.”

He suggests the council’s approved improvements don’t actually address the deeper issues that Leesburg has. He says that the train depot’s improvements make it look better but asks, “What does that train depot benefit the citizens?” He says, “Right across the street we have incredibly dilapidated property that no one’s done anything about.”

Revell says the school system is “the crown jewel of Lee County and Leesburg” and that more needs to be done to “foster that system and help it maintain and get better” beyond the addition of sidewalks.

As mayor, Revell plans to “step in, make an impact, and begin the process” of “assembling the scope of work” needed to “fulfill the citizens’ desires.”

Within the next few weeks be on the look out for both candidates as they make their way around the city, knocking on your doors and letting you know why they deserve your vote.

Early voting will begin March 2, and the election will be on March 24. Georgia voter registration deadline is Feb. 24.