Three men seek two council seats in election on Tuesday

Mayor John Miller will be running unopposed in the town’s Nov. 8 municipal election again this year, but three are vying for two seats on the Sparta Town Council.

Filing to run again for council were one-term incumbents Mike Parlier of Carson Boulevard and John Brady of Westview Drive. Facing them will be political newcomer George K. Vaughn of Riverview Drive. Miller, who lives on North Main Street in Sparta, has been the town’s mayor since 1982 — a position to which he was first appointed and has been elected to every election year since. Miller served as chairman of Region D Council of Governments for three of his 24 years with that group, from which he has received an outstanding elected official award and an outstanding board member award. Miller is also chairman of the Alleghany Memorial Hospital Board of Trustees.

The town’s only polling place is the Sparta Town Hall, which is located at 304 South Main Street. Voting will take place in the bottom floor of the building, which is accessed by a parking area in the rear of the Town Hall.

Only voters who live within the town’s limits will be eligible to vote in the election.

Brady, who filed on July 1, is a retired Piney Creek School principal and runs a woodworking shop in Sparta. He was first elected to council in 2001.

Parlier, who filed on July 6, is a volunteer firefighter who is employed at Hugh Chatham Memorial Hospital. He also was first elected to council in 2001.

Parlier and Brady filled two seats vacated by C.J. Hendrix, who opted not to seek re-election council at the expiration of his term; and Randy Williams, who moved outside the town’s limits and was not not eligible to file for re-election.

George K. Vaughn, a former Sparta Police Chief and retired truck driver, was the last candidate to file, tossing his name in the ring on July 15. Vaughn was chief of police in Sparta from 1967 until 1979. Vaughn is also an ordained Baptist minister.

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