Shoemaker, Burns in runoff

TUSCUMBIA - Incumbent Bill Shoemaker and retired Police Chief Wayne Burns will meet again in six weeks to decide who will fill the city’s top seat.

Shoemaker got 46.6 percent of the vote Tuesday to Burns’ 34.4 percent to force a runoff.

Former Mayor Wade Gann received 15.2 percent of the votes and Randy Stone had 3.7 percent in the four-man race.

“We’ve still got work to do,” Shoemaker told supporters during a gathering after hearing the totals. “When you have four candidates in a race, winning without a runoff is pretty hard to do.”

Burns mingled with supporters after the race and said he hopes to see them again during the Oct. 7 runoff.

“I hope they remember me in October,” he later said. “I’m very pleased to be as far as I am into this race.”

Shoemaker, who is completing his first term as mayor, took 240 votes to Burns’ 115 in the Tuscumbia Multi-Purpose Center Box and 236 votes to 133 for Burns in the Hope Haven Box.

Shoemaker took the Utilities Building Box by three votes over Burns, 87-84, and won the R.E. Thompson School Box, 187-146.

Burns won big in the Willie Green Center Box, 134 votes to 77 for Shoemaker.

Shoemaker said the fact that the three council incumbents who ran for re-election won their races is a sign of stability.

“It’s a good team, and we’ve just got to get in there and work hard enough to join them for another four years,” the mayor said. “We’ve created a good atmosphere among the city council and mayor.”

Shoemaker said there are various projects in the making, including an effort to four-lane the Sheffield and Tuscumbia portions of Avalon Avenue.

Burns said he has enjoyed campaigning and is ready to continue to do so.

“I thoroughly enjoyed everything pertaining to it. I’ve rekindled a lot of friendships.”

He said he has a vision for the city. “I know I can carry the city forward and show the citizens we can do things together,” Burns said. “It takes getting it done.

“My only campaign promises are I’ll work for the people and my door will always be open.”

Gann, who served as mayor from 2000-04 and didn’t run for re-election, had a 15-point plan he called the “Gann Plan.”

“I think the Gann Plan really hurt me,” Gann said Tuesday night. “But I do want to congratulate the winners and I hope them all the luck in the world.”

Stone, frozen-food manager at Foodland in Tuscumbia, said he wasn’t disappointed by his numbers.

“I didn’t expect to get it because that’s politics, but people don’t want change,” he said.

Stone had distributed a portfolio during his campaign.

“If I ran for mayor tomorrow, knowing what I know now, I wouldn’t change anything I did,” he said.

Bernie Delinski can be reached at 740-5739 or bernie.delinski@TimesDaily.com.