The presidential election is getting most of the buzz, but when early voting for the fall election starts later this week, Town of Smithfield voters will make another critically important decision: who controls the Town Council for the next two years.

The council’s current working majority has insisted for months that it has the silent backing of most people in the community, and that a handful of malcontents — or, as incumbent Councilman Jim Collins calls them, “keyboard warriors” — has created an inaccurate perception of the electorate’s mood.

They could be right, but to date there’s been little evidence to support the claim. Voters ousted Incumbent Mayor Carter Williams in 2022, and Renee Rountree, prominent member of the town’s ruling class, lost nearly 40% of the vote despite being the only name on the ballot last fall for the Smithfield-centric District 2 seat on the Isle of Wight County Board of Supervisors.

Smithfieldtimes.com’s admittedly unscientific reader poll last week showed overwhelming desire for change heading into the 2024 town election.

Whether you like or dislike the current council, the ballot offers a clear choice. Elect incumbents Collins and Raynard Gibbs to preserve the 5-2 working majority led by Mayor Steve Bowman. Or reelect incumbent Mike Smith and elect challengers Darren Cutler and Mary Ellen Bebermeyer to put town governance on a new path with a top priority of better controlling residential growth.

We already know that Bowman’s majority will shrink by one. Candidate Bill Harris is assured election after being the only candidate to qualify for a two-year seat on the council instead of the four-year seats sought by Bebermeyer, Collins, Cutler, Gibbs and Smith.

Harris has been a vocal opponent of residential growth approved by the town in recent years: the massive Mallory Pointe development on Battery Park Road and the controversial Grange at 10Main, which stands to more than double the population of Smithfield’s Historic District.

Smith, a popular incumbent with many voters for his willingness to buck the ruling class, seems a shoo-in for reelection, leaving the council’s majority to be decided by which two of the following first-time candidates are successful: Bebermeyer, Collins, Cutler and Gibbs. 

Collins and Gibbs were picked by a 5-2 vote to fill the unexpired terms of Rountree and Wayne Hall; Bebermeyer and Cutler are aligned with Smith and Harris and have the backing of a newly organized group called Citizens for Responsible Leadership that seeks major change in town governance.

We encourage you to read carefully the Times’ ongoing Q&A series with candidates on important issues facing the town. Then, on Thursday, Oct. 10, at The Smithfield Center, all five candidates have been invited for what we believe to be the only scheduled joint appearance of the candidates before the election: the Times’ biannual candidate forum at 6:30 p.m. at The Smithfield Center.