-

The Town of Hillsville’s General Election will be held this Tuesday, May 6. This year’s election is an important one as the Town will be electing a new mayor.

It is critical that town citizens take advantage of their right to vote, especially in a race where a small number of eligible voters have actually cast ballots in recent memory. During the 2006 Hillsville General Election, only 243 votes were cast in the mayoral race, which is roughly about 14 percent of eligible voters. Those numbers are unacceptable for a race as important as the mayoral race, especially this mayoral race.

Randall Gravley has provided the town with outstanding leadership during his four years as Hillsville’s mayor. Along with his fellow members of Town Council, the local government has made significant strides during this tenure, improving the look of downtown through revitalization, and helping add recreational activities such as the Beaver Dam Trial, among others.

The town is facing one of the most critical times in its history as construction of the U.S. 58 Bypass of Hillsville is already underway. The town must have leaders who can move it forward during this important time of transition and who will take steps to ensure that travelers don’t bypass Hillsville when the new traffic options are available.

Business continues to pick up in the Historic Downtown District with the fairly recent addition of such entities as The Hardware Company and Court Street Coffee. Nuckoll’s Drug will soon be moving down the block to Carroll Street, while The Hardware will be expanding into the existing Nuckolls building. The Town needs to continue to have leadership that will keep things moving in this direction.

All registered voters in the town are urged to take the time to cast their ballots this Tuesday. The only way to have a true representation of the citizen’s wishes if for the majority of voters to show up at the polls. You cannot do that with only 14 percent of registered voters.