Stanley elected Caryville mayor

Caryville Alderman Chris Stanley has won his bid to become the town’s mayor. By the end of the night he had accumulated 365 of the race’s 766 votes.

Incumbent Robert Stooksbury garnered 285 votes. Jerry Chadwell received 116 votes.

In the moments after his win, Stanley expressed gratitude to his family, friends and supporters. “I also always want to thank God for all my blessings,” Stanley said.

The first item on Stanley’s agenda is to examine the budget. “We have already spent close to half of our expected tax revenue,” Stanley said. “We have a lot of year ahead of us.”

Caryville currently has a fund balance of $315,000.

Stanley is set to be sworn in Monday night. However, he said personnel changes were not on his mind at the moment.

“That’s not why I ran,” he said. “We are in pretty good shape. I am not looking to cut anybody but maybe we could add a few jobs later,” Stanley said.

With two years left on his alderman’s term, there will now be an empty seat at the table.

“I am pretty sure I make the recommendation on that (filling the seat),” Stanley said Tuesday night. He declined to comment on who the possible replacement could be. “We will wait and see how that works out,” he said.