Who Will Be Suwanee's Next Mayor?

Updated Oct. 18, 2011

Note: Suwanee Speaks will be a feature on Suwanee Patch designed specifically to solicit public opinion and comments on issues affecting Suwanee.

The race is on.

Suwanee will hold municipal elections on Nov. 8, and choosing a new mayor will be on the ballot.

Two candidates have qualified, and they offer voters quite a contrast.

In alphabetical order by last name:

-- Jimmy Burnette has been a City Council member since 1996 and is a lifelong Suwanee resident. Yet, he sees himself as an agent of growth and change in his home town, which has added about 7,000 residents, five city parks and a new City Hall in the past 10 years.

-- Dan Pittman is a DeKalb County native who moved to Suwanee in 1997, not long before the city passed a $17 million bond issue that led to development of the city's well-known parks system. He dislikes the current city government's approach to long-term public debt.

Burnette is known by other Gwinnett leaders because he is Suwanee's delegate to the Gwinnett Municipal Association. Pittman is known in business and neighborhood circles, but publicly his only exposure comes as an occasional speaker at City Council meetings.

Burnette declared his candidacy in July; Pittman declared on the final day of qualifying last week.

So now the question: Who will win?

The election is Nov. 8, but you can express your feelings now in the Suwanee Speaks poll.

Who will be the new mayor of Suwanee?