Municipal elections are scheduled for November 2011 and new faces are expected to grace at least one of Bryan County’s two city councils.
So far, council members up for re-election in Richmond Hill say they plan to run again, but that’s not the case for everyone on the Pembroke city council.
Two seats on the Richmond Hill City Council, currently held by Jimmy Hires on Post 3 and Marilyn Hodges on Post 4, are up for grabs.
And all seats on the Pembroke City Council – Johnnie Miller in District 1; Douglas Kangeter in District 2; Diane Moore in District 3; Tiffany Walraven in District 4; Angela Reed, who serves at-large; and the mayor, is scheduled for re-election in November.
Mayor Judy Cook, who has held the post for 12 years, said she will not seek another term. Council member Reed also said she’s not planning to run for re-election, while Miller, mayor pro-tem, said he’s undecided. 
Cook said she felt as if her administration has accomplished nearly every goal they set. Cook decided to retire at the end of her current term, she said, adding it is time for her to bow out gracefully.
“It’s time for another administration to come forward,” she said.
Reed, who has one term under her belt, said she felt as if it was time.
“I figured four years was enough for me,” she said.
Reed plans on spending time with a grandchild on the way and planting a garden, but she did not rule out a future bid for public office.
Miller, who has held his post on the Pembroke City Council since 1992, said he’s not sure if he’s going to run for another term. There are unresolved issues in the city that he’d like to finish, Miller said, but he also wants to spend more time with his family.
Miller was tapped for the city council after his father, Gene Miller, died while serving the city. He praised Cook for their time together on the board.
“We worked really good as a team for years,” he said.
Walraven is finishing up her first term on the city council and plans to run for a second. Her grandfather, Harry Owens, served as a council member in the 1960s and as the mayor of Pembroke in the 1970s. Her grandmother, Elvie Owens, was also a council member in the 1980s.
Kangeter also said he would most likely run for a second term.
Moore was elected to fill the unexpired term of Tony Greeson in June 2009. She plans to run for her first full term “unless something unforeseen comes up,” she said.
Pembroke City Council members are elected to four-year terms.
In Richmond Hill, both Hires and Hodges said they intend to run for re-election to their four-year terms. 
 Unlike Pembroke, which holds an election for the entire council every four years, Richmond Hill staggers its terms. Mayor Harold Fowler and council members Russ Carpenter and Van Hunter were elected to their seats in 2009.
Hires has been on the city council for six years. He filled the unexpired term of then-council member Fowler, who vacated his seat in 2005 to run an unsuccessful bid for mayor against former Mayor Richard Davis.
Hires won his first full term to the council in 2007.
“I’ve enjoyed being on the city council and the city’s made a lot of progress,” he said.
Hodges is finishing up her first four-year term on the council. She beat incumbent Billy Albritton, who is currently a member of the Richmond Hill Planning Commission, in a runoff election in 2007.
Hodges said she thoroughly enjoys being a council member and wants to serve another term to resolve some unfinished issues.
Qualifying for both cities is Aug. 29 through Sept. 2. The general election is Nov. 8.