HORNEPAYNE— Hornepayne's mayor and council have been given their place in office for four years, without requiring an election.
The town's mayor and council were acclaimed, as nobody stepped forward to challenge during this year's municipal election period..
For Mayor Cheryl Fort, that does not make her job, or that of the municipal council, any less important.
Fort said she is excited about the opportunity to serve her community for the next four years, but also acknowledged that the faith shown to her by residents brings the need to really focus on priorities.
“I am really excited about the fact that the community of Hornepayne has put their faith in me again. Council has also been acclaimed with only one new council member. We also have to say goodbye to council member, Jon Peroff,” Fort said.
Fort identified several key priorities she believes need to be focused on moving forward.
“We need to focus on re-branding for our community, to help attract new business and investors. We need to look at infrastructure and the structure of our roads,” Fort said.
The mayor emphasized that the ability to attract new investors to the community will be key to the future growth and development of Hornepayne.
“It will be important to focus on the needed infrastructure projects and getting new investors into our community so we can grow. We need to focus on housing and building homes,” Fort said.
Both the recently acclaimed council and the mayor have to keep their thumb on the heartbeat of their community, so as to develop what the mayor described as a “foundational document”, to highlight the key priorities and projects needed to keep the Municipality of Hornepayne growing.
