
Photos courtesy of the candidates.
Challenger Gerald A. Garner (R) won a seat on the Mountain Brook City Council in the municipal election Aug. 25 by defeating incumbent Philip Black (L) by a narrow margin, according to unofficial results.
Challenger Gerald A. Garner won a seat on the Mountain Brook City Council for Place No. 2 in the municipal election tonight by defeating incumbent Philip Black by a narrow margin, according to unofficial results.
Garner, a member of the Mountain Brook Board of Zoning Adjustment and former long-time member of the Park and Recreation Board, had a total of 1,619 votes.
Black, a former member of the B.Z.A. and the Planning Commission who was elected to the Council in 2016, had 1,566 votes.
Results will be certified September 1, once provisional ballots, if any, have been considered pursuant to Alabama law, according to the city website.
“Of course I'm disappointed, but I’m more disappointed not in coming up short in the numbers but for all the people who worked so hard throughout the race to carry a positive message ... about what we have been doing and what we hope to do for the city,” Black said, when asked for initial reaction to the loss.
“The people have spoken, as they always say,” Black said.
Garner said that he was “blown away” when he saw the results in his favor. He said that he was “honored by all the support from the moment I threw my hat in the ring.”
City officials told Garner during the campaign that no incumbent had ever been defeated in a Mountain Brook election, he said.
“I knew that this was going to be a difficult challenge, obviously, and certainly a difficult campaign, so we we made a little history yesterday,” Garner said.
To see the complete unofficial tallies from the different polling places in the city, go to mtnbrook.org.
Aug. 26, 2020, 4:15 p.m. This post was updated to add quotations from Garner.