Collierville elections: Emily Fulmer challenges Missy Marshall for Position Four alderman

Collierville residents will vote this November on Position Four alderman.

Incumbent Missy Marshall and Collierville Community Justice co-founder Emily Fulmer are vying for the four-year seat on the Collierville Board of Mayor and Aldermen.

Early voting for suburban elections starts Oct. 19 and ends Nov. 3. The general election is Nov. 8, and the deadline to register to vote is Oct. 11.

Here is a closer look at each candidate.

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Missy Marshall

Marshall, 53, who moved from Williamson County to Collierville about 17 years ago, dedicates her platform to engaging the public in civic work. She was first elected Position Four alderman in 2020, serving the final two years of the late Tom Allen's term.

"I still feel like I have more to learn and more to offer the citizens," said Marshall, executive director of Keep Tennessee Beautiful. "I love Collierville, I love living here."

Marshall focuses on public safety as her top priority and hopes to continue to equip first responders with the technology and tools needed to make Collierville safer. She said maintaining a safe environment will help keep the "family-friendly community."

She also wants to help the town fill vacant leadership positions including planning director and director of human resources, which she said goes in hand with her plan to engage the public more.

Marshall emphasized her constant availability to residents and said she wants to utilize the four years as alderman to reach those younger than her, and prepare them to serve the community and become leaders.

"I have over 25 years in public service," she said. "I understand managing budgets just in my everyday role. We're here to leave things better than we found them, and I feel like in my career in public service that I have a record of doing that."

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Emily Fulmer

Fulmer, 40, who made Collierville her home about eight years ago, wants every resident to feel like they have a voice in town decisions.

"People do not feel like they have good representation," said Fulmer, a University of Memphis political science instructor. "There are a whole lot of people in Collierville that cannot get somebody elected that they prefer."

She said creating voting districts in Collierville would be her main goal as alderman to allow representation of each part of town on the board. Fulmer also hopes to work on drainage, affordable housing, and adding a diversity, equity and inclusion board and youth advisory council.

Fulmer plans to engage more residents in government to allow better diversity on the board, and to offer leadership opportunities to youth for preparation of future leaders.

Fulmer wants to work with developers to create homes affordable for those who work in Collierville and said she at least wants to get planning for that started. She also hopes to begin to design and prepare for future climate change and the possibility of extended heat waves in the future.

"I feel like I have a lot of concrete policy ideas and proposals and I think I'm in touch with what people need, especially people who feel like they've been excluded all this time," Fulmer said. "I feel like I can really make a difference and contribute to empowering our residents to get involved and invest in our town, our town's leadership and our town's government."

Dima Amro covers the suburbs for The Commercial Appeal and can be reached at Dima.Amro@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @AmroDima.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Collierville elections 2022: Candidates for Position 4 alderman