Councilwoman Says Mayoral Run Requires Too Much Energy

Sandy Springs City Councilwoman Karen Meinzen McEnerny has announced that she will not run for Mayor in the November election.

The Councilwoman had previously announced that she would not see re-election of her current seat and had strongly considered the run for Mayor. All City Council seats are up for re-election. Rusty Paul is the sole candidate to announce that he is running for Mayor.

“It was a tough one to make,” said McEnerny on her decision. She emailed constituents with the news on Monday.

“It was the highlight of my life to be able to serve this fabulous community,” McEnerny told Patch.

However, the Councilwoman, a supporter of term limits, indicated that she was starting to feel burnout.

“It boiled down to do I have the energy and resources to hang in there and run for Mayor, and the answer is – no,” she said. “My energy is limited.”

McEnerny said five people have told her they are interested in running for her District 6 seat, and a few are interested in running against the other incumbents, but those few may not be enough to bring about fresh change. 

“So I would be serving with existing the City Council again,” she said. “Frankly I have sacrificed a tremendous amount of energy to the best of my ability.”

McEnerny is a former asset manager in commercial real estate. Central Park where Cox Enterprises is located was one of her assets while employed at Equitable in the 1990s, she said. When real estate was struggling in the early ‘90s, McEnerny said only extended stay hotels and apartment community owners were interested in the property. 

“I said, 'No, this is an outstanding site. It is close to MARTA. We are not selling for apartments or extended stay.' Now look at it. That is the kind of work I did and the perspective I brought to City Council,” she said.

The Councilwoman would like to see candidates come forward to run against Rusty Paul.

“It’s about choice. And I just think that we need to have people running for every office. If they don’t like the direction they see this city going in, they need to step up. I did and I’m proud of that,” she said. Every person on the City Council has done that. it’s public service at its finest.”