Elected Officials and Staff
Mayor

Wayne Bullard (bio)
e-mail  Mayor@hahira.ga.us

STAFF

Wayne Bullard was sworn in as mayor on Feb. 1, 2007 after serving in the district 3 city council seat since Jan. 3, 2000. He was born in Tatum, South Carolina. He and his wife Janice have made their Home in Hahira for the past 28 years. They are proud parents of two sons and a daughter.

Wayne has been employed by the United Postal Service for 28 years and everyone in town knows him as the "mailman". He served 3 years in the Marine Corps. He is a Baptist and a member of the American Legion.

He said, "I ran for public office because I wanted to get involved in my community and figured the best way was to get elected to public office."

His vision for the city is for "us to move very slowly and maintain our small town where you know everyone,"

Accomplishments he would like to see are sidewalks on every street in town, a nice and larger community center and a nice recreation facility.

Council district 1
Terry Benjamin
Bio pending

Council District 2
Allen Cain
Bio pending
 

Council District 3
Ralph Clendenin
 

Ralph was elected to the district 3 city council seat in March 2007. He was born in St. Louis Mo. He and his wife Beverly have made their Home in Hahira for the past 8 years. They are proud parents of two children and four grandchildren.

Before retiring to Hahira he was employed at Lockheed Martin as a manager for 31 years. He served six years in the US Navy.

Ralph ran for public office because he wanted to help develop a cohesive financial plan for the future growth of Hahira and would like to help the city develop a reclaimed water system which would help, preserve our water supply.

Rose and her husband have made Hahira thier home since July 1987.  They have two daughters, two grandsons and one granddaughter who live in Texas and North Carolina. Before choosing to live in Hahira, they made their home in Panama where she worked in early childhood development with the Department of Defense School System.

She is an active member of the Hahira community and is active in the Hahira Methodist Church and sings in the Chancel Choir, Hahira Historical Society, Hahira North Lowndes Outreach Development Board of Directors, Smith Northview Hospital Auxiliary, Hahira Lions club and the Valdosta Wymodasis Woman’s club.

She has served on the Hahira Library and Beautification Committees, the Lowndes County Library Board and a volunteer with the Meals on Wheels program.

She plans to work for improvements to the wastewater treatment plant, making the downtown business district more attractive for small retail businesses, seek clean industries for the Hahira Business Park, controlled new residential growth, promote redevelopment of older residential areas and improvements to city parks and recreational services.

Jonathan Sumner has been a resident of Lowndes County since 1996. Jonathan moved to Hahira with his wife Jennifer and son Michael in 2003.

Jonathan attended Valdosta State University, achieving recognition with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration.  He also holds a master’s degree in Public Administration from the same institution.  Jonathan earned an Associate of Arts degree through the Early Admission program from Brevard Community College in Titusville, Florida.

Police Chief
Terry Davis

Terry was born in 11 miles north of Hahira in Adel but has lived in Hahira since the age of 14. He always wanted to be a police officer and at the age of twenty became the youngest police officer ever employed by the Hahira Police Department. A year and a half-later, he was promoted to the rank of Sergeant. He continued his climb through the ranks to Lieutenant in 1996 and in September 2000 was promoted to Chief of Police.

In 1983 A.B.A.C. Regional Police Academy named Terry Police Officer of the year, and in 1999 he was named coordinator of the Southern Regional Traffic Enforcement Network, (A division of the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety). During his career he has worked every type of case but a murder case.

Terry and his wife Traci make their home in Hahira and both are active in community activities, and the Hahira United Methodist Church. In addition to his duties as police Chief, Terry has been a member of the Hahira Volunteer Fire Department since 1985.

Terry’s goal is to attain state and national certification for the HPD and assure that his town has the best protection and friendly service possible provided by a "Hometown USA" Police Department.
 

City Clerk (Interim)
Belinda Chappell

Belinda has made her home in Hahira with her two children Austin and Ashley for the past 7 years.  She has four sisters living here also.  Belinda enjoys outdoor activities and spending time with her children and family members.  She sought employment with the city because she enjoys working around people and learning new things.  She loves new challenges and wants to see Hahira continue to grow but retain the small town charm.  As city clerk Belinda wants to see "the citizens of Hahira work together as a group to keep our town growing but remain a safe place to call home."

Donnie Warren was born in Florida and moved to Lowndes County in 1961. After deciding to make his home in Hahira, he married Sandra and had two children. They are the proud grandparents of Danielle and Patricia. He is an active member of the Salem Methodist church.

Donnie attended the Hahira and Lowndes County Schools for his formal education.

Donnie’s work history started in 1983 with a local fertilizer company. He later came to the Hahira Public Works department as a Dog Catcher advancing to the Sanitation Department, Water and Sewer department (concentrating on maintaining the water sampling reports) as Public Works Director in 2005.

One of Donnie’s objective as Public Works Director is to respond to the Citizens’ concerns as quickly as possible.

Fire Chief
Dwight Bennett

Dwight has lived in the Valdosta and Hahira area for 12 years. He was born in Adel, graduated from Cook County High School and has an Associate Degree in Fire Science.

He has been in the fire service for 18 years. He was first a volunteer fireman in Adel and later became a fireman with the North Lowndes Fire Department before he came to Hahira as Chief in May of 2003. He still works as an Adjunct Instructor for the Georgia Fire Academy, GEMA, Georgia Fire Commissioners Office and Valdosta Technical College when his schedule allows.

Dwight and his wife Dana have two children, Stephen and Heather and enjoy living in Hahira. When he is not spending time with his children, he is enjoying his next favorite past time – traveling. He loves to venture to new places. His favorite mode of travel is a cruise, however he also loves returning to Hahira.

Assistant Fire Chief
Justin  Ply

Justin was born in Raleigh North Carolina. He wife Angie and children Cade and Madison have made Hahira their home for the past five years.  Prior to beginning his service with the Hahira Fire Department in January 2004, he served with the North Lowndes Fire Dept. for 7 years and the Valdosta Fire Dept. 6 years.  His hobbies are hunting and fishing.  His says his reason for seeking employment with the city of Hahira was "I wanted to help protect the citizens of Hahira and give back to the community and  "I also want to help Hahira have the best fire protection possible and work to drop the insurance rating drastically."
 

Senior Finance Clerk
Paula Stone (Bio pending)

Nutrition Program Site Manager
Ann Hagood (Bio pending)