11/05/07 — In Fremont, only one race a contest Tuesday

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In Fremont, only one race a contest Tuesday

By Nick Hiltunen
Published in News on November 5, 2007 1:45 PM

Six districts are up for re-election in the Fremont Board of Aldermen race, but only the first district is a contested race.

In District 1, incumbent Billy Harvey did not make his phone number available on election materials filed with the Wayne County Board of Elections.

District 1 challenger Billy Harvey says he wants to improve the town.

"One thing is we don't have enough industries in the town. We don't have enough businesses," Harvey said. "We're trying to see if maybe we can get enough businesses, we can maybe get the utilities down. They're way high."

In District 2, Leon Mooring seeks a second term as an alderman and is unopposed. He says a sewer rehabilitation project scheduled for completion this month is one of his primary goals.

"One of the main reasons I'm running again is so I can see this sewer project finish, see if I can get some of the bills for the sewer and electric down," he said.

Mooring praised the police chief and said crime is down overall and the police force is working toward combating a perceived drug problem.

Alderman W.T. Smith is running unopposed in District 3.

"We're working on the sewer, trying to get the sewer straightened out, and I want to work on that some more," Smith said. "We got a big drug problem that we're working on, and I think we've got a good chief now."

Harold Cuddington is running unopposed for District 4, and praised the sewer rehab project for cutting residents' bills.

"We wanted to bring our sewer rate down as soon as we could, and we've already come down (3 percent)," Cuddington said. "I'm hoping we can come down more than that. I think the board we've got now is doing a good job. They work well together."

Leroy Ruffin is running unopposed in District 5, but did not return messages Friday or Sunday for comment.

Annie R. Lewis is running unopposed for District 6. She said she is concerned about drug trafficking.

"Mainly we're trying to get our sewer system worked out. That's our main concern, and we're working on this drug problem. There's a lot of traffic, people that don't live here and don't have any relatives here, so it's kind of congested around here."