City Council elections are underway for Roswell residents, which means it is now time to fully understand both what City Council does and who is running for it. 

 First, it is important to understand what the city council does to help the community,  Roswell’s Government website states, “The Roswell City Council sets policy for the operations of the City. This legislative body also sets the millage rate for property taxes, approves the City’s annual budget, passes ordinances, and hears and acts on requests for rezoning and annexation.” The city council is elected by the Roswell residents to provide the vision and policy necessary to meet the needs of the citizens.

The current members of city council include Marcelo Zapaa, Mike Palermo, Christine Hall, Marie Willsey, Matthew Tyser and Matt Judy. In this year’s election, Peter Vanstrom is running for Post 4, which is currently held by Marie Willsey. Matt Judy, who holds Post 6, is being challenged by Lee Hills, and candidates Yolanda Freeman, Michael Dal Cerro and William Morthland are running for the Post 5, currently held by Councilman Matthew Tyser. 

The City Council election this year is on Tuesday, Nov 2, 2021. Voters should vote at their precinct.

An interview conducted with Matt Judy, who is a current city council member and is running for reelection against Lee Hills, is as follows: 

How do some of your goals affect Roswell High School’s students?

“The City Council of Roswell affects the RHS student body in many ways. Municipal government handles things such as roads, stoplights, garbage, police and fire protection and many other of the day to day operations of a City. Recently we approved a turn lane change out in front of the school to increase safety and look forward to that project being implemented.”

What’s more important for our city right now: building new homes and commercial space or rehabbing/expanding/better utilizing our existing homes and storefronts?

“Roswell is mostly what we call an infill City as most of the land is built out. I believe right now we need to focus on refreshing/rehabbing our existing stock of buildings. We in the government need to continue to work to bring opportunities and relationships to make this happen. Roswell can become a leader in area of innovative concepts and rehabilitation in our community.”

How do you plan to involve residents in the decision making process in our town?

“Better Communication. In my second term, I will look to create a Press Secretary position that will give bi-weekly streamed updates to the press and residents. We also need to use every technological advancement in citizen engagement to garner input to create more complete and effective legislation. I am also old fashioned in a way and believe nothing beats a good one on one meeting over a cup of coffee.”

If you received a $1 million grant to use for the city any way you wanted, what would you do with it and why?

“This is a hard question as we have so many worthy needs in our community. I would say at this time since I am currently liaison to Police and Fire, that I would use the money to give our first responders a pay raise or buy additional safety gear for their everyday use. While this would be just a minimal amount of money needed, I believe that our Public Safety is paramount.”

Where are your favorite places to spend time in our town?

“Being a Roswell native and RHS graduate there are many spots that are near and dear to my heart in the city. I would have to say that spending time with my family on Canton Street is my favorite. We have so many good restaurants, shops, and places to hang out. We have the original downtown area that other cities are envious of.”

It is important as Roswell citizens to make sure we go out and vote for our city to make sure we have the best people possible running our city.