Editing Cumming, Georgia (section)

== Government ==
[[Image:Cumming mayor.jpg|thumb|Mayor H. Ford Gravitt and the city council pictured at the Independence Day parade in 2002.|200px|right]]
Cumming is a municipal corporation; since 1845 it has been governed by a mayor and a five-member city council. The mayor and council members serve staggered four-year terms.

On December{{nbsp}}22, 1834, Cumming was officially incorporated and five councilmen were appointed: John Jolly, William Martin, Daniel McCoy, John H. Russell, and Daniel Smith. The town of Cumming's charter was revised on December{{nbsp}}22, 1845, resulting in new councilmen William F. Foster, Arthur Irwin, Major J. Lewis, Henry L. Sims, and Noah Strong.<ref name="barrett-cumming-1993">{{cite book |last1=Barrett |first1=Gladyse K. |title=Historical Account of Cumming |date=1993}}</ref>

House Bill{{nbsp}}334 was enacted on October{{nbsp}}10, 1885, giving Cumming a mayor and five-person city council.

Former mayor H. Ford Gravitt was first elected to the city council in 1966, and went on to be elected mayor in 1970.<ref name="ajc-estep-nov-2017"/> Gravitt was mayor of Cumming for 48 years before losing to rival candidate Troy Brumbalow. Brumbalow has held the office since January 2018<ref name="cumming-admin"/> and was re-elected in November 2021.

=== City Council ===
{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! Year
! Mayor
! Post 1
! Post 2
! Post 3
! Post 4
! Post 5
|-
| 2011
| rowspan=7| H. Ford Gravitt
| rowspan=5| Rupert Sexton
| rowspan=7| Quincy Holton
| rowspan=9| Lewis Ledbetter
| rowspan="5" | John Pugh
| rowspan="5" | Ralph Perry
|-
| 2012
|-
| 2013
|-
| 2014
|-
| 2015
|-
| 2016
| rowspan=2| Chuck Welch
| rowspan="9" | Christopher Light<ref name="nf-2015">{{cite web |last1=Sturgeon |first1=Kathleen |title=Linda Ledbetter, Christopher Light win Cumming Council elections |url=https://www.northfulton.com/archives/linda-ledbetter-christopher-light-win-cumming-council-elections/article_253de410-244d-5db0-9255-754058130915.html |publisher=North Forsyth |access-date=September 25, 2019 |date=November 6, 2015}}</ref>
| rowspan="8" | Linda Ledbetter
|-
| 2017
|-
| 2018
| rowspan="7" | Troy Brumbalow
| rowspan="7" | Chad Crane
| rowspan="7" | Jason Evans
|-
| 2019
|-
| 2020
| rowspan="5" | Joey Cochran
|-
|2021
|-
|2022
|-
|2023
|-
|2024
|Susie Charles-Carr
|}

=== Previous city council members ===
* William F. Foster, 1845
* H. Ford Gravitt, 1966–1970
* Quincy Holton, 1969–2017 (Post 2)<ref name="ajc-estep-nov-2017">{{cite web |last1=Estep |first1=Tyler |title=This Georgia mayor has served for 47 years. Meet the man who beat him. |url=https://www.ajc.com/news/local-govt--politics/this-georgia-mayor-has-served-for-years-meet-the-man-who-beat-him/8pnFWOmYeIoeJQgTaNzsUN/ |work=The Atlanta Journal-Constitution |access-date=September 25, 2019 |date=November 10, 2017}}</ref>
* Arthur Irwin, 1845
* John Jolly, 1834
* Lewis Ledbetter, 1971–2019 (Post 3)
* Linda Ledbetter, 2016–2019
* Major J. Lewis, 1845
* William Martin, 1834
* Daniel McCoy, 1834
* Dot Otwell,<ref name="fcn-2015">{{cite web |title=Linda Ledbetter, Christopher Light elected to Cumming City Council |url=https://www.forsythnews.com/local/local-government/linda-ledbetter-christopher-light-elected-to-cumming-city-council/ |work=[[Forsyth County News]] |access-date=September 25, 2019 |date=November 3, 2015}}</ref> 1956–1957
* Ralph Perry,<ref name="strategy-manual">{{cite web |title=Service Delivery Strategy Manual for the City of Cumming |url=https://www.dca.ga.gov/sites/default/files/forsyth_county_service_delivery_strategy_update_1998.pdf |access-date=September 25, 2019 |date=May 4, 1998}}</ref> 1979–2016 (Post 4)
* John D. Pugh,<ref name="ajc-torpy-2015">{{cite web |last1=Torpy |first1=Bill |title=Something crazy in the water in Cumming |url=https://www.ajc.com/news/local/something-crazy-the-water-cumming/NYXiV80NZEyWyEIgGiU4eP/ |work=[[The Atlanta Journal-Constitution]] |access-date=September 25, 2019 |date=January 23, 2015}}</ref> 1993–2016 (Post 5)
* John H. Russell, 1834
* Rupert Sexton,<ref name="ajc-torpy-2015"/> 1970–2015 (Post 1; mayor [[pro tem]])<ref name="strategy-manual"/>
* Henry L. Sims, 1845
* Daniel Smith, 1834
* Noah Strong, 1845
* Kenneth J. Vanderhoff,<ref name="strategy-manual"/> 1987–1990
* Charles Welch, 1972–1986<ref name="fcn-2015"/>
* Chuck Welch,<ref name="ct-1987">{{cite web |last1=McNulty |first1=Timothy J. |title=Civil Rights Throng Marches in Georgia |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1987-01-25-8701070005-story.html |work=[[Chicago Tribune]] |access-date=September 25, 2019 |date=January 25, 1987 |quote="We're just the battleground for these two forces," said Charles Welch, a member of the Cumming City Council for 14 years. He and others seemed perplexed that suddenly their county was in the glare of national attention, and they tried to analyze what it meant.}}</ref> 2015–2017 (Post 1)<ref name="fcn-2015"/>

=== Previous mayors ===
Many historical records have been destroyed in fires, leaving some information unavailable or unverifiable.<ref name="barrett-cumming-1993"/>

* W.&nbsp;W. Pirkle (possible)
* T.&nbsp;J. Pirkle (possible)
* E.&nbsp;F. Smith (possible)
* Charles Leon Harris, term dates unknown (also Forsyth County School Superintendent, 1912–1916)<ref name="barrett-cumming-1993"/>
* Alman Gwinn Hockenhull, term dates unknown (also Cumming Postmaster, 1913–1922)
* Enoch Wesley Mashburn, 1913–?
* Marcus Mashburn Sr., 1917; 1961–1966<ref name="strategy-manual"/>
* Joseph Gaither Puett, 1918–1919<ref name="bramblett-bagley-1999">{{cite book |last1=Bramblett |first1=Annette S. |title=Forsyth County: An Album from the Garland Bagley Collection |date=March 1, 1999 |publisher=Arcadia |isbn=9780752404196}}</ref>
* Henry Lowndes "Snacks" Patterson, 1920–1921 (also Georgia General Assembly representative, 1884–1885; Commissioner of Public Instruction, 1892–1910; Blue Ridge Circuit Court judge, 1912–1917)<ref name="barrett-cumming-1993"/>
* John Dickerson Black, 1922–1923 (also Georgia General Assembly representative, 1933–1936)
* Andrew Benjamin "Ben" Tollison, 1926–1927 (also Forsyth County School Superintendent, 1920–1932)<ref name="barrett-cumming-1993"/>
* Roy Pilgrim Otwell, 1928–1956; 1959–1960
* Marcus Mashburn Jr., 1957–1958
* George Ingram, 1966–1970
* H. Ford Gravitt, 1970–2018