Former Selma Town Councilman William Overby has announced his intentions to run for Mayor. The seat is current held by Mayor Cheryl Oliver.
Overby served from 2013 to 2017 on the town council but lost his bid for election to a second term. At the same time he was running for re-election to the town board in 2017, he was also running a write-in campaign for mayor. Overby also ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2015. This time he believes the outcome will be different.
“I think it’s time for a change in Selma. I want to represent the people. People should have a voice,” Overby told JoCoReport. “We need to stop the wasteful spending on the Civic Center and Pool, especially when people on fixed incomes are faced with constant rate increases.”
Overby said he is also concerned about the high turnover rate at Town Hall. “I would like to see the personnel turnover issues addressed. We need to stabilize and utilize the people we put faith in. There is too much micromanagement of town personnel.”
If elected, Overby says his first goal is to implement new ideas to improve growth, especially in the downtown area. While other areas of Selma are growing, he believes the downtown area is being overlooked.
Overby has lived in Selma his entire life. He worked at Sylvania for 10 years and retired from IBM after 33 years. He has worked for the past 3 years as a substitute teacher at Wilson’s Mills Elementary School. He has also served on the Selma Planning Board since 2018.
He and his wife, Gloria, have a daughter, Rena, and two grandchildren, Alexis and Cameron. He plans to be among the first candidates to file when the filing period officially opens at Noon this Friday, July 5th.
During the 2017 town council elections, Overby missed winning re-election by only 21 votes.
