Jason Lary, who was elected first mayor of Stonecrest on Tuesday, knows his city got the biggest break possible about a month ago when developers announced plans for a massive sports complex in his city. Now, the city has its identity that is more than a shopping mall. “It is the best thing that could have happened,” he said of the complex. “Now, we are a city of destination.”
Lary spearheaded the drive to make Stonecrest a city. Then, he said the most important thing for the city would be building its identity. With the identity in place, Lary now wants to turn to other development. He sees becoming a logistics hub as the next natural step. The city has a mainline of CSX and I-20. “We have an opportunity to be a robust player in industrial space,” he said. “Our future is really bright.”
Lary will take office early next week after the vote is certified. But he will take office without really having an office. Stonecrest does not have a city hall yet. And because the election field was so crowded, it won’t have a full city council until after runoff elections next month.
Jimmy Clanton, Jr. and Jazmine Randall Cobble each won council posts Tuesday by roughly 2-to-1 margins. But the other three seats, all multi-way races, are headed to runoff elections. That doesn’t worry Lary, who saw his own three-way race turn brutal in the final few days of the campaign. “I have no issues with the council members we have,” he said. “I have a good relationship with all of those guys.”
It is a relationship Lary hopes lasts for at least a decade. Lary will serve an initial two-year term. He hopes to follow that with two more four-year full terms. “It is going to take us 10 years to get to where I want to go,” he said. That decade will start with small steps. Citizen advisory committees will be set up. The city will choose a building for its headquarters. Those citizen committees will keep the city true to its vision, Lary said. “We built this city on the vision of the citizens,” he said. “That is how it passed. That is how I got elected, too.”
Then Lary said the city will make sure revenue flows in so basic services can go out. The city will run lean with just six employees. Many services will come from DeKalb County.
