Tuesday was the election for the county’s mayors and city council members. After hours of voting, the announcement of the winners was made. A few days in and the new people are poised to step up to become leaders in our community.

For everyone who will be new in the office, welcome to your new leadership position and good luck with taking your town or city even further into the future. The people of Chilton County will soon be going through some changes as they get used to the new mayors and councilmembers in house, and it is going to be through these first few weeks when the new leaders will most need the support of their community.

As much support that should be given to our new leaders, it is also important to remember the leaders who have had to step down from their positions in order to make room for the new officials to step in and start running their towns.

With everyone working together, we should be able to make smooth transitions into learning our new leaders and we should be able to welcome the new future as we step into a new year. Our leaders may be new or they may be stepping back into their own shoes, but no matter who they are they should be shown the respect that they deserve when they step up to take the seats as mayors.

I am happy for all of the winners in the mayors’ race, and I welcome all of you. When November gets here and the mayors get to start their work, I can’t wait to see the places that they take Chilton County. We are getting closer to another new year, giving our leaders the perfect chance to get settled in and make their plans part of the county’s future. Welcome to all of the winning mayors and council members. You guys are our towns’ and cities’ leaders for next four years. I wish you good luck in making good decisions for the future.

– Ashley McCartney is a news writer for The Clanton Advertiser. Her column appears each Thursday. She can be reached at ashley.mccartney@clantonadvertser.com.