With just one candidate in each race, the municipal election season in the Camellia City is over.

At the end of qualifying on Tuesday, there were no challengers to Mayor Dexter McLendon or any of the five incumbent city councilmen, therefore, all five were certified as elected according to the Alabama Code of 1975.

“We had good records to research from 1908 to 2016 and having no opposition is unprecedented,” said City Clerk Sue Arnold. “This is the only time it’s ever happened, at least as a far back as our records go.”

In 2012, the only contested race was in District 1 after Dr. Jean Thompson chose not to seek reelection. Bryan Reynolds, Keith Gibson and Jerry Myers each sough the seat. Reynolds received 58 percent of the vote in a runoff election to defeat Myers.

McLendon, who will be serving his fifth term as the city’s mayor, said he believes the fact that there was no opposition in this election year says a great deal about the job that has been done by the council during the past four years.

“I think this is really special to have all the council to run unopposed,” McLendon said. “I think it says a little something about this council and the work it has done. I’m very proud for all the councilmembers and proud of the job they’ve done for the city.”

On Wednesday, the council signed resolution certifying the election of Reynolds (District 1), Ed Sims (District 2), Tommy Ryan (District 3), Jimmy Lawson (District 4) and Jeddo Bell (District 5), as well as McLendon.

Wednesday marked the first time Lawson has been elected to office.

He was appointed to the council last July following the death of James Lewis, who was the longest serving councilman in the city’s history. Lewis served District 4 for more than 30 years.

With none of the races being contested, the city will save approximately $11,000.

According to Arnold, had the races been contested, the city would have had to print ballots, hire poll workers, pay for postage for absentee ballots and rent electronic voting machines for all five districts.

The mayor and council’s new term begins Nov. 7.