By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

Current Pelham Councilman Ron Scott will re-run for his spot during the city’s upcoming municipal elections, he announced after qualifying for the election on July 3.

Scott has been serving on the council since March 2012, when he was appointed by Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley to serve the vacant spot left when former council member Mike Dickens stepped down to become the city’s municipal court administrator.

Scott, who has lived in Pelham since 2005, said he decided to re-run for the Place 2 spot after experiencing the city’s government firsthand during the past three months.

“During the three months that I’ve served so far, I’ve realized there’s a great deal more work that I would like to do for the city,” Scott said. “I feel that the people who supported me to be appointed by the governor would be let down if I didn’t run for a full term.”

Scott, who is the executive director of the Economic Development Association of Alabama, said he would like to see a “rebirth and revitalization” of the city’s retail base, and said he would like to hasten the city’s economic recovery.

“I think one thing the city can do is to go out and talk to existing businesses to see what we can do to help them prosper,” Scott said, noting he would like to establish a Pelham business league. “I’d like to see new retail, but we need to support our existing businesses first.”

Scott said he also would be in favor of hiring a “professional, certified manager” for the Pelham Civic Complex.

“We have a golf course that’s prospering because of professional management. We have a tennis center that is turning the corner because of professional management,” Scott said. “I think that (certified management) individual could lead us down the road of financial stability at the Civic Complex.”

Pelham’s municipal elections will be held on Aug. 28 at the Pelham Civic Complex from 7 a.m.-7 p.m.

“The challenge today is for us to make decisions that will affect what Pelham looks like five or 10 years down the road,” he said.