A retired civil servant said she would like to see another female voice on Villa RicaÂ’s City Council in 2019.
Sheryl Bell told WLBB radio that she plans to get her name on the ballot for the Ward Two city council seat race for the special election this March; qualifying begins next week.
Bell has lived in the City of Gold for the last five years:
“I have been a civil servant for the state of Michigan for 30 years and I retired in 2013. The very next year I came here to Villa Rica. I have a B.A. in Business Administration.”
In retirement, Bell considers herself a community activist. She has made the city and her community aware of issues affecting the Trails at Charleston Place subdivision, where she resides. Bell believes she was instrumental in improving safety in her neighborhood and getting roads improved.
“When I first got here I noticed that there were things that we needed from talking to neighbors. I started going to city council meetings and speaking up about things that we needed. They didn’t have street lights on the back end and people were breaking into cars and it was dark over there. I told the city that we needed street lights and they gave us six street lights,” said Bell listing some accomplishments in Villa Rica. “I took up a collection and we got neighborhood watch signs. We got our streets top paved and I think that we are the only neighborhood that got our streets top paved that is not an HOA neighborhood.”
Bell and her family chose to move to Villa Rica and while she said she knows the city will continue to grow, she hopes growth does not mean too much change.
“We picked Villa Rica because of the location and the proximity from Atlanta. We can be away from all the stuff that goes on in Atlanta and we still can be close enough to go there for events if we want to. To me the city is getting ready to grow. I want to help support the growth in a positive way. And also protect the city from becoming to commercial,” commented Bell.
Qualifying for the vacant Ward Two city council seat in Villa Rica takes place January, 7 through January 9 at Villa Rica City Hall. A special election in March will determine who will serve the remainder of the unexpired term of long time Councilman Verland Best after he resigned this past autumn. The current term ends at the end of 2019.