Mike Lott will serve as the new alderman-at-large for the City of Petal, garnering 431 votes to opponent Andrew "Drew" Brickson's 373 in Monday's runoff election to replace the retired William King.
The runoff was necessitated because none of the candidates in the March special election received the necessary 50 percent of the vote plus one vote.
"I'm very pleased; I'm very satisfied, and I want to thank my family and all my friends who worked really hard to make this happen," Lott said. "I know the voters understand I can do this, because I represented them before in the Legislature, and I want to say thank you to Drew for running a clean race - he worked so very hard.
"I'm just looking forward to trying to get in there and make some changes for Petal and lead us in the right direction."
Lott is a graduate of William Carey University who serves as principal at South New Summit School in Hattiesburg. He also has served as principal at Runnelstown School, in the Mississippi House of Representatives and as assistant principal in the Petal School District.
Lott said although he is looking forward to working on the upcoming budget, it's hard to pinpoint an exact plan because being on the board is a team effort.
"But one of the things I would like to do is start, as soon as we can, forming some groups in the city to come together and talk about things we can do to improve the city, whatever it is," he said. "I just want to get together and build the city by getting people active, getting ideas, and coming together as a city and as a community."
Brickson congratulated Lott on his victory.
"I look forward to helping move the city forward," Brickson said. ""Thank you to all those who supported me. I deeply appreciate you. God bless him and his family as well as our city of Petal."
Lott will complete the remaining term of King, who officially retired Feb. 1. To run for a full term, Lott would be required to run for re-election in the summer 2021 election.
In addition, voters approved 660-80 to continue the city's Mississippi Power franchise agreement. By that measure, the city will continue to get its current 3 percent of Mississippi Power's franchise fee. Had the measure been voted down, that amount would have dropped to 2 percent.
