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Four incumbents were re-elected to the Locust City Council according to the unofficial results released Tuesday night by the Stanly County Board of Elections.

Rusty Efird led the way for Locust with 1,445 votes (23.61 percent) followed narrowly by Larry Baucom (1,432) who earned 23.4 percent of the votes. Mike Haigler finished third with 1,276 votes (20.85 percent) and Harry Fletcher fourth with 1,062 votes (17.36 percent). Newcomer Barry Sims finished fifth with 811 votes (13.25 percent).

Efird said he was “humbled that the great citizens of Locust gave me the opportunity to serve four more years on this council.”

In the future, he would like to monitor the continued growth of the town to “make sure we grow at a controlled rate.”

Efird said he would “like to continue to attract businesses to come to Locust.   Something we need are more jobs in Stanly County.” He also wants to support the town’s law enforcement “to make sure they have council support and the equipment to do their jobs safely.”

Baucom said he was “grateful for the voters’ support and humbled by the expression of confidence in me to help lead our community forward.”

He wanted to let citizens to know “if I can assist you at any time, please feel free to contact me.”

Baucom said the town has good staff in place, including the new police chief, administration and the public works department, adding Locust “is in place to move forward for the next four years.”

Haigler said he wanted to thank his family for their support and patience, especially his wife.

“I appreciate all the people of Locust and will do my best to listen, support and serve them all,” Haigler said. “Together with the great staff, administration, council members and community, Locust is and will continue to be a wonderful place to live. I look forward to the challenges and opportunities this holds.”

Fletcher said he was glad for the campaign to be over because it is always stressful, but added he was “pleased our team is still intact” referring to the town council.

“The team has been working together for a while now and we’re used to working together… I’m just happy to continue to be a part of it,” Fletcher said.

He added Locust’s location is advantageous, and he wants the town to continue to grow “because that’s good for everybody.”

Fletcher also said the county needs more industry, particularly the western part, “because we need the jobs.” He added the council does not want Locust to be a bedroom community for Charlotte but be “a folksy community which includes jobs.”