By Rebekah Martin

Associate Editor

Tiffany Gibson-Pitts defeated opponent Oscar Penn for the Opelika City Council Ward 2 seat with 63 percent of the vote in today’s runoff election.

“I’m very excited … I think the people in Ward 2 made their choice and I’m happy that they entrusted their faith in me to lead the ward,” Gibson-Pitts said. “I believe in democracy and, at the end of the day, whatever the people say they want, then that’s who will be the best person for the position.”

Gibson-Pitts and Penn were declared the runoff candidates after beating incumbent Larry Gray and Nelson Marsh in the Aug. 24 municipal election.

Gibson-Pitts said she will focus mainly on the safety concerns of Ward 2 once she begins her term.  “I want to go ahead and get my leadership team into place, where I have one person from each neighborhood on a leadership team. I really want to address the concerns for safety in the Edmon [Avenue] area, so I do want to tackle that in the beginning,” Gibson-Pitts said. “… Then I’ll get briefed on the Carver-Jeter Plan and start working on that as well.”

The city council will officially canvas the votes from today’s election next Tuesday at noon and will hold an organizational meeting Nov. 7, during which city council members and Mayor Gary Fuller will be sworn in to office. They will begin their new terms at the regular meeting Nov. 15.

The Opelika City Council meets every first and third Tuesday at City Hall.