news-record.com

Stokesdale will vote on a liquor-by-the-drink and ABC-store referendum Nov. 3.

Their mayor, Randle L. Jones, is running unopposed and they have one fewer candidate to choose from than they did a week ago.

Grimsley High School media specialist and part-time Greensboro Public Libraries employee Silvana Mazo had to drop out of the race for Town Council last week.

“I was told that I couldn’t run because of my job at the library,” she said by phone.

Mazo said that she was informed that her job with the library prohibits her from seeking an elected office because it is a conflict of interest.

“I was upset about that, too,” she said.

With Mazo out, newcomers Frank Bruno and Thearon Brooks Jr. , will face incumbent Mickie Halbrook for the one open seat on the Stokesdale council.

Voters also will make the call Nov. 3 on whether the town should allow liquor by the drink and an ABC store.

The council came under fire this year for the alcohol referendum, which it had voted down in 2008.

Because last year was a presidential election year, a referendum could not be placed on that ballot. The town would have had to pay for a second election.

This year, it could be added to the ballot at no extra cost.

The council also came under public scrutiny this year for decisions on the pending Town Hall.

In a special meeting in August, the council voted to put the new Town Hall out for contractors’ bids.

The council told residents in the special meeting and in that month’s regular meeting that the project was simply going out for bids to find out how much it would cost to build the Town Hall.