Flowery Branch's newest city council member was sworn in at the start of Thursday's meeting.
Ed Asbridge won a special election on June 18 for an unexpired council term of former councilwoman Mary Jones who resigned in 2018; Jones died earlier this year.
Asbridge received a round of applause from the crowd at the meeting and said it felt good to take the seat.
"It feels great. I hate that I have to run again in November, but it'll work," Asbridge said.
He said he had considered running for the city council for some time.
"I've been involved, I've been going to city council meetings since 2007," Asbridge said. "I actually lost my wife last December and prayed about it a lot afterwards and decided to run this spring."
Asbridge won the special election with 351 of the total 502 votes cast, beating Melissa Brooks and Chip McCallum. Because the election was for an unexpired term, the post will be up for election again in November.
Until then, Asbridge said he plans to focus on growth and development in the city.
"Also, I want to organize and help the merchants grow as a merchants association or business alliance. I'm not sure how that will work yet, but that's one of the things I want to do," Asbridge said.
Council members Joe Anglin and Christopher Mundy also offered their congratulations to Asbridge during the meeting.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2019/6/808698/flowery-branch-councilman-asbridge-sworn-in