ALMA -- What started as a five-person race for mayor of Alma ended Tuesday, as Jimmy Fincher collected more than two-thirds of the votes in a runoff.
Fincher, 77, beat Edward Wakefield, 65, according to unofficial results from the Crawford County clerk's office.
The unofficial results were:
Fincher382
Wakefield183
Alma is Crawford County's second-largest city with 5,825 residents as of the 2020 U.S. census.
Fincher will succeed Jerry Martin, who was elected to a four-year term in 2018, according to the city clerk/treasurer's office. Martin finished fourth in the Nov. 8 general election.
The mayor's salary is $50,000 per year. The position is nonpartisan.
Fincher retired in 2018 after working about 50 years in banking and finance, including about 25 years between multiple banks as president and chief executive officer, he said.
He said he believed this background made him the most qualified candidate to be mayor.
He said he was the only person running with experience in budgeting, strategic planning, hiring, firing, reporting to boards and managing more than 100 people and $100 million in assets.
He said he would learn city policies and procedures if he won Tuesday's election, as well as get to know Alma's department heads and help them meet their goals. One of his priorities would be assessing the city's high employee turnover rate in recent years.
He said he would prioritize getting younger people involved in city government as well. He intends to meet with Alma High School and try to get all its seniors registered to vote. He would also like to start a "Junior City Council" with students who could participate in official City Council meetings.
Fincher and Wakefield got the most votes for mayor during the general election Nov. 8.
Neither got enough votes to win at that point, either by getting more than 50% of the total votes cast or finishing 20 percentage points ahead of the second-place finisher. The pair surpassed three other candidates: Gary Perry, Martin and Brent Gardner.