FAIRHOPE, Alabama—Fairhope City Council President Lonnie Mixon announced yesterday to Lori DuBose of WABF 1220 AM that he has decided to challenge three-term incumbent Mayor Tim Kant in the Aug. 28 municipal election.

“A number of people have been asking me to run, and I decided it was the thing to do,” he told The Fairhope Courier Sunday evening. “I’ll be filing my qualifying papers tomorrow.”

The qualifying period for the city election, which includes five council seats, ends today at 5 p.m. Any election run-offs would take place Oct. 9.

Completing his first term on the council, Mixon has often clashed with Kant over issues, during a term which saw the council seek to fulfill its statutory duty to set policy for the city and control the city’s finances, he said in a statement to The Courier this morning.

“I believe that the only way our city government will function in accordance with Alabama law, which gives the council responsibility for legislation and financial control and the mayor responsibility for implementing legislation and administrative duties, is for the mayor to reach out to the council,” Mixon stated Monday morning. “The mayor must take the initiative to establish a working relationship between the council and the office of the mayor.”

Mixon joins candidate Chris Warner, who ran for mayor in August 2008, in a bid for the city’s top elected position.

“I’ve learned a lot serving on the council these past four years, and I think I can use that experience to be a good and fair mayor,” Mixon stated on July 16. “I believe a major accomplishment of this council has been to allow citizens with broad experience and varied backgrounds to provide input to government at many levels via the Financial Advisory Committee, police Citizen Advisory Committee, budget process, strategic planning and personnel, just to name a few. And it is my fear that without good mayoral leadership we will revert to a system of one person controlling everything.”

During the 2008 election, several candidate forums were held, but to date no group has committed to host a forum. The Citizens for Responsible Government announced it was planning to sponsor a forum but later decided against doing so.

More recently, a representative for Fairhope First has stated it is contemplating hosting such a forum and would be making an announcement about it soon.