After more than two decades serving on the Summerfield Town Council, Summerfield Town Councilmember Dena Barnes said she’s had enough and she has no plans to run for that seat again later this year.
The Town of Summerfield was formed in 1996 and, one year later, in 1997, Barnes was the elected to serve on the first Town Council that was decided by voters. (In the first year of the town’s existence, the council was appointed rather than elected.)
Just after the turn of the century, Barnes also served one term as the town’s mayor.
“These past two years have about done me in,” Barnes said, giving one reason why she plans to call it quits after more than two decades of service on the council.
Since mid-2017, the town has been in what is virtually a civil war over numerous matters including development and zoning issues, the removal of former Summerfield Town Councilmember Todd Rotruck from the Town Council and a host of other heated controversies.
Barnes also gave another very interesting reason why she doesn’t intend to run: She said she doesn’t think it’s right for her to be on the council while her husband is serving as the town’s mayor.
Dena Barnes’ husband, former Guilford County Sheriff BJ Barnes, hasn’t announced that he’s running for Summerfield mayor this year – but he has said that he’s strongly considering it and has also said that the town certainly needs some new leadership in that all-important position. Some may take the fact that Dena Barnes is not running again as further evidence that her husband will seek the position of mayor.
