Butler to be mayor of Burlington, Wall & Owen return to council

Burlington voters chose challenger Jim Butler for mayor by a strong margin, and decisively put former mayor Ronnie Wall and incumbent Harold Owen back on the Burlington City Council.

“I’m honored and I think we have a clear understanding of the task that’s before us and we have a clear understanding of the work and what those voters in Burlington expect from their mayor,” Butler said. “I do want to make sure our council is united as one and I’d like to do as a council is reach out to city staff and give them clear direction.”

Read More: Burlington voters choosing mayor, two council members

Butler has been critical of incumbent Ian Baltutis for what he has called his partisan stances but said Tuesday he respects him as an individual.

For his part, Baltutis said he was outspent – including some with some dark money from outside the county – but overall being mayor is not a job but a calling from the community, and the community called on Butler this time.

“It’s a challenging evening,” Baltutis said, “but I’m grateful for the community to call for me for six years to serve as mayor.”

The largest city in Alamance County elects its mayor every two years. City council members run every four years; two of their seats were open this year. There was a lot of interest in this year’s election, but Burlington, unlike other local towns, holds primary elections. In September, that primary winnowed the number of mayoral candidates from five to two and council candidates from six to four.

More: Burlington City Council primary candidates make their cases

Ronnie Wall was the largest vote-getter in the city council race with nearly 30% of the vote. The former mayor has been out of politics since the end of his last term in 2015 when he did not run for re-election.

Harold Owen, former city manager, was decisively re-elected to his second term on city council. He said the council needed to focus on filling vacancies in city employees in many department, but especially police.

“We are here to represent everyone; this is a non-partisan election, an at-large election, we represent al the city and we’ll do our best to do that,” Owen said. “We’ve lost a lot of quality people in our organization, especially people in leadership roles, and we want to replenish that competency.”

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Isaac Groves is the Alamance County government watchdog reporter for the Times-News and the USA Today Network. Call or text 919-998-8039 with tips and comments or follow him on Twitter @TNIGroves.

This article originally appeared on Times-News: Burlington NC election results 2021: Mayor, council winners announced