Triana residents enjoy a community outing in summer of 2015. CONTRIBUTED

MADISON – Four Triana residents have announced their candidacies for mayor and Triana Town Council.

Currently serving in Triana City Council’s 3rd seat, Luis Ferrer is running for mayor. An U.S. Army veteran, he works as a contract specialist on Redstone Arsenal. On council, he chairs the committee streets and cemetery.

Ferrer serves as Triana’s liaison to Madison Board of Education and with the school district’s Education Policy Committee. He represents Triana on the Citizens’ Advisory Committee.

“The town doesn’t currently review monthly expenditures and income for their various accounts at council meetings,” Ferrer said. “As a council, it makes it extremely difficult to make informed decisions.”

Running for council, Zach Atchley is focused on increasing transparency and social media coverage. Atchley encourages use of Facebook and YouTube as a means of informing Triana residents. Atchley is manager at Copart Inc. in Tanner and recently graduated from Athens State University.

“Residents today have to physically attend council meetings or go to Town Hall and request copies of minutes. With today’s technology, there are plenty of free platforms that can be used to communicate with citizens,” Atchley said.

In her candidacy for council, Betty Haynes is focused on improving financial reporting at Town Hall. A Triana resident since 2007, Haynes has worked part time for Town of Triana and pursues contract work to help the town clerk. Owner of Quality Bookkeeping, Haynes works full time as executive administrator at RCP Companies.

“We have pledged, as part of our modernization initiatives, to utilize automated reports that are already available to the town and track spend plans,” Haynes said. She earned CB certification at the University of North Alabama.

Casey Whitman, also candidate for council, is an U.S. Air Force veteran and work as a systems engineer for Redstone Arsenal. In 2009, Whitman moved to Triana from Washington D.C. with BRAC. In 2014, Whitman helped organize a neighborhood watch in Towne Lakes in response to frequent nighttime thefts.

“We’ve been impacted by only having two officers. “We want to fix that,” Whitman said.

Triana elects five at-large council members and a mayor. Election Day will be Aug. 23.