Brown elected mayor of Bell

By Carrie A. Mizell

Former Bell Town Councilman Tommy Brown was elected mayor last Tuesday after defeating incumbent Darryl A. Bryan in a run-off election.
Brown received 55 votes to Bryan’s 27 votes in a Christmas week election that drew only 28 percent of Bell’s 294 voters to the polls.
A Bell native, Brown said he decided to run for mayor after receiving a lot of encouragement from town residents.
“There are a lot of changes I would like to make around town,” Brown said.
Though he spends his weekdays driving a school bus for the Gilchrist County School District, a job he has had for over 30 years, Brown said he plans to work on improvements within the Town of Bell, including new landscaping around the depot, and improvements to roads and town parks.
Brown will be sworn-in on Thursday, Jan. 6 during the Bell Town Council meeting. Town councilman Larry Sutton and clerk Michelle Rose will also be sworn-in at the Jan. 6 meeting.