By Jimmy LaRoue

Published: May 6, 2008

After the thousands of dollars spent on mailings; signs; ads in print, online and on-air; multiple forums; and door-to-door campaigning filled with promises, the hard part – doing the work entrusted upon them by the city’s voters – begins.
Downtown still has empty storefronts. There continues to be a flood of stormwater projects – still without a funding mechanism in place for managing them. And Waynesboro’s debt load is more than $60 million.
Yet, with the trifecta of Bruce Allen, Frank Lucente and Tim Williams winning in a landslide Tuesday, they’ll form a new, conservative majority come July 1. It’ll be a new day in Waynesboro, and with it, new hopes and fears.
Those hopes, Allen said, include a more fiscally conservative council that will hold the line on taxes. Voters told Allen they want a council that will be good stewards of their money.
“They realize that we have to live within our means and be conservative with our dollars,” Allen said.
However, with the dynamic of the council changing – putting Vice Mayor Nancy Dowdy and Councilwoman Lorie Smith in the minority – several losing council candidates fear the city could regress.
Jeremy Taylor, who along with DuBose Egleston, Jr. lost overwhelmingly to Lucente, said he would work to implement the November referendum projects voters supported – a west-end fire station, a library expansion and stormwater improvements – along with downtown revitalization. He said he misread the attitudes of voters.
“I think what they’ve said loud and clear is that they would rather have low taxes than improvements that our city needs,” Taylor said.
Graham, who along with Taylor received backing from Wayne Theatre Alliance chairman Bill Hausrath, said that the Wayne Theatre project “is very much in question.”
“I really fear for Waynesboro’s future,” Graham said.
Egleston also echoed Graham’s sentiments, saying the recent progress the city has made will be undone.
“I think the progress we’ve made the last six years will be undone, and I think we’ve got to have services provided,” Egleston said. “And I think this [result] will be a step back.”
Graham and Bruno both said the endorsement of the International Brotherhood of DuPont Workers Local 381 was key to the election results. The union represents employees at Invista, the city’s largest employer with more than 1,000 workers.
The union, along with company officials, said a stormwater fee could cost the company up to $240,000 yearly. Both have expressed fears that a fee could force job cuts or a company move.
“People saw that electing others would have caused them to lose jobs,” Bruno said.