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Lanett citizens will have the chance to take a vote on what time zone they prefer the city run on. According to Lanett Mayor Jamie Heard, this comes after speculation that Valley may be moving to central time.

Heard said many citizens have spoken to him about the time zone issue, some in favor and some against changing over to central time. A few weeks ago, he and the city council decided to ask the citizens to give their feedback.

“I wanted the help of the citizens of Lanett and to see what they felt about the time zone,” Heard said. 

A letter was recently sent out to citizens to make their vote. Heard said he has not seen the results but those receiving the votes have told him so far they are favoring eastern time. 

“The majority are saying that they’re in favor of staying on eastern time,” Heard said. 

However, many citizens have yet to respond with their vote.

Once the results are in, the city council and mayor will have discussions about how to proceed. Though there is no deadline for the voting, Heard said they will likely have until the middle or end of February before the results are announced.

Valley Mayor Leonard Riley said he is in favor of Valley moving to central time to ease the transition for students who live across the county if the new consolidated school is built in Valley.

“If the board of education will build the school in the city of Valley, I will work to move Valley to central time,” Riley said. “Because the kids on the other side of the county don’t need to be getting up at 5 a.m. That’s too early.”

Though the board of education voted to build the school on the Valley site, a federal judge has yet to make a decision. According to Riley, the Valley site has the advantage of access to utilities and sports fields. 

“I just hope the judge understands the site will save the board a lot of money,” Riley said.

Though he has not discussed the issue with the city council yet, Riley said he feels that they will agree with his recommendation. 

“I feel like it would be a no-brainer if they build the school in Valley,” Riley said.