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FROM STAFF REPORTS / Editorial 

While much of the country, and even the world, has been infatuated with the 2020 presidential election the last two weeks, there has been something more important happening on a local level that will likely impact our daily lives more.

During a busy election year amid a chaotic 11 months of 2020, municipal elections also occurred on Aug. 25, with each municipality across Shelby County voting for city council members and in some cases a new mayor.

On Monday, Nov. 2, the day before the country went out to vote in the General Election, those we voted for in the municipal elections were sworn in and officially took office.

That’s important for several reasons.

Not only did most municipalities across the county have new members elected to the city council, but there were also several new mayors elected, including in cities such as Alabaster, the largest city in the county, Columbiana, Helena and Montevallo.

While we may be more concerned on what is happening nationally because of the storylines, those local officials elected to manage the great cities across Shelby County are equally as important because of what they will mean over the next four years.

Shelby County is considered one of the greatest counties in the state of Alabama with low unemployment rates, booming businesses, great family-oriented neighborhoods and some of the best schools in the state.

And the only way it stays that way or continues to get better is through your local elected officials.

To the mayors, old and new, now is a time to come together for your city. Remember why you ran and the platform you shared when you were running.

The same goes for the council members. Represent the people of your community and listen to what they say. They see things from different perspectives sometimes and their input can be invaluable.

And most importantly, work together.

There will be disagreements. Any time there is a team or a group working together, there are always differing ideas on how to be successful.

But working to compromise and find what is going to work best to help the infrastructure of your city is what is most important. Your idea may be right sometimes, but the other person may be right other times.

During the last four years, we’ve seen several of our cities take major strides as they continue to grow. And as one of the largest and still fastest-growing counties in the state, we should continue to see that moving forward with our local leaders working together to help us continue to have one of the state’s best places to live.