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By TYLER RALEY | Staff Writer

HELENA – With municipal government campaigns starting up around Shelby County, the city Helena adds its newest mayoral candidate to the mix in Russ Powers. 

The city of Helena is preparing to welcome a new leader to office in 2025 after current mayor Brian Puckett announced in January that he will not be seeking reelection due to a health scare suffered in August 2024.

According to his official website, Powers is a 13-year resident of Helena and is a businessman, operating demolition business Rockett Services, LLC, and strives to be a leader for the people with his background in fiscal operations.

“Me being a citizen of Helena, I felt like it was important for me to step up,” Powers said. “I’ve felt like that if I was going to do anything to be able to get the city headed in the right direction, I’ve felt like I couldn’t put it off to somebody else. I’ve felt like I could hold that position well. There’s several things in my business that has made me very successful, and so if I can bring some of those attributes to the city, I feel like we can get us back on the right track.”

Powers cited his ability to be able to work with people as a strength of his, as well as his ability to be able to measure out and budget money appropriately as a result of how he has gotten paid in his commercial business.

Powers also complimented the small-town atmosphere that Helena currently holds, but stressed the importance of making that a big focus in his goal to keep making the city a desirable place to live.

“My kids grew up here in the parks and (recreation), and we just really feel like that we need to keep this town going in the right direction, to keep that small-town feel so we can still enjoy the town,” Powers said. “If we can keep the small-community feel of it, I think that’s what everybody moved here for. I think we’re trying to keep up with other cities, and I just feel like that if we can bring the small-town feel back to Helena, that’ll make a big difference for everybody in the reason why they came here.”

In addition, Powers also emphasized transparency as a high point in his campaign, wanting to be known as a leader that serves the people and is open with them about everything going on in Helena, from financials to updates on other projects that are happening within the city’s limits.

In addition to the mayoral seat being up for grabs, the majority of the Helena City Council seats will also see new faces, with Chris Willis, Laura Joseph and Hewy Woodman announcing that they will not be running for reelection in 2025. City Council President Alice Lobell and Andy Healy, who holds Place 2, have confirmed they will run for their positions once again.

The municipal election for the 2025 election cycle will take place on Aug. 26.