Hiram City Council Candidate Withdraws

Hiram City Council candidate and business owner George D.D. Turner, a candidate for Post 1, has withdrawn from the race.

Turner had a hearing set with the Paulding County Elections and Registration office Thursday to clarify his residency data in order to run in the November municipal election.

He contacted the city Monday morning and withdrew his
candidacy, according to Deidre Holden, supervisor, Paulding County Elections and Registration office.

In order to qualify for the election a candidate must be a citizen in good standing and have lived within city limits for at least one year.

Hiram City Clerk Terri Graham confirmed that Turner had withdrawn his candidacy without a hearing because he had made plans to move his business back to Dallas. Turner’s official withdrawal will be complete upon receipt by the city of a signed letter, Graham said.

The hearing Thursday was scheduled in order to clarify some conflicting information with regard to Turner’s residency, Holden explained, following the Board of Commissioners meeting, and she added that the purpose for the hearing was to determine the candidate’s location within city limits rather than his length of residency.

Post 1 is the seat that was given up by Jack Paris to take over as Interim Mayor in July, and is currently occupied by city council veteran Alvin Sims, who returned in August to fill-in through the end of the year. Turner's withdrawal from the race on Monday leaves the remaining two qualifiers for Post 1, Prather “Pep” Rollins and Stephen S. Bray.

Interim Mayor Jack Paris, who remained unchallenged through the write-in candidate deadline, will take over as Hiram’s mayor following the election.

The Hiram City Council meets today at 6 p.m. for a special called meeting primarily to discuss issues related to the city’s usage of Unicode services.