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A former mayor pro tem of Norwood won reelection to the town’s council as mayor after the Stanly County Board of Elections released unofficial results Tuesday night.

Linda Campbell won her race against incumbent mayor Harold Thompson, earning 614 votes (50.87 percent). Thompson received 572 votes (47.39 percent).

Campbell said she knew there would be a huge voter turnout for the election because of the presidential race, which is what she said she and the council wanted when they had previously looked at changing the town’s charter.

She said she was thankful for the people who supported her and helped with the campaign.

“Hopefully, they will stand behind me know and keep up that support,” she said. “We’ve been a divided town for a long time, but everyone is looking for growth and for Norwood to progress so we have to get on board together to make that happen.”

She added it still surprised her to see the large voter turnout. She said the closeness of the race “was a little surprising,” adding the mayor can now play an active role in decisions as a fifth and deciding vote.

Campbell said “hopefully everybody can just come together. I’m eager; I’m ready. I’m excited about serving again and I have lots of things on the agenda from when I left office I hope to pick back up.”

Water and sewer rates have been a primary concern as of late for the town, she said, noting the rates have increased the past three years and are scheduled to increase again.

“I want to get in there and really look at those numbers to see if we can’t give people some relief on these water bills, especially trying to forfeit that last increase,” Campbell said. “If there’s any way at all to alleviate that increase, I definitely know I’m in favor of it.”

Campbell said she is concerned with several water leaks in Norwood which the town “has not been able to find some of the sources (of them).”

She also mentioned concern regarding the fact Norwood treats more water than it is selling.

Economic development is also a goal for the town, she added, saying there is a new fine dining restaurant scheduled to come into the downtown area.

“I’m excited about that. Hopefully, that will be just the start of growth. I’m all about finding businesses and trying to bring them to Norwood,” Campbell said.