SUFFOLK, Va. — This year, only two seats on Suffolk City Council were up for grabs, with the others having candidates run unopposed.
With only one precinct not yet reporting in each race, Shelley Butler-Barlow is in the lead for the Chuckatuck Borough, while Leroy Bennett is leading in the Cypress Borough race.
The Holy Neck and Suffolk Boroughs were uncontested with Timothy Johnson and John Rector serving these seats, respectively.
In a previous interview with 13News Now, Suffolk Mayor Michael Duman said the city's biggest issues for whoever's elected will be transportation and land use issues across the city's 430 square miles.
"Do we want to take a piece of land and convert it into a business designation? How much growth do we want to allow? What kind of growth? Where do we want to allow it and to what extent? Our citizens are concerned about maintaining the character of the city," he said.
The Suffolk borough was supposed to be another contested city council seat this November, but the city’s electoral board took candidate Arthur Bredemeyer off the ballot following complaints of forged petition signatures.