The town of Brantley has found its newest councilmember.

Crenshaw County probate judge William Tate swore in Georgia Bush as the Brantley city councilmember of District 2.

The role will be Bush’s first role in municipal government.  She previously served as a medical professional with Crenshaw Community Hospital for 37 years.

Having retired a few years ago, Bush now instead seeks to revitalize the town of Brantley alongside the remaining council.

Bush said that the thought of being a direct contributor to the improvement of Brantley is an exciting proposition, but it is still dwarfed by her inspiration to seek the councilmember seat in the firsts place–her predecessor the late Judy Wooley.

“I am completing Judy Wooley’s position on the city council,” position said.

“She died recently, and I was very honored to be asked to do it. Judy and I were really good friends. She was so passionate about the city of Brantley, and wanting to see something done for it.”

Bush and Wooley shared many interests, including attending the same church as well as a brief stint with the local garden club.

In that time, Bush came to know–and quickly become inspired by–Wooley’s words and deeds.

“Her main passion was her love for people, and I would have to say that one of her second passions was the town of Brantley,” Wooley continued.

“If I could borrow one of her words, she loved the word smidgeon. If I could just do a smidgeon of what Judy Wooley did for this town, I will feel successful.”

Many challenges await Bush, including getting to know the constituents of her district and finding her place among the rest of the council.

But chief among her many goals, she aims to make Brantley just as attractive a place to call home for youth as it is for the elderly.

“Our children… after they finish high school and go off to college, so many of them express that they want to come back home,” Bush said. “And I think it’s our responsibility as councilmembers and commissioners to try to provide that for our children.

“Not to mention that so many small towns are just skeletons of what they were. When I moved here 40 years ago, this was a bustling town. Every single building on Main Street was filled with something, and now so many of them are just crumbling skeletons. And it’s not just our town–it’s small-town America. But that is the backbone of this nation—small-town America.”