In this year’s May 1 Vinton Town Council election, there are two candidates for two seats.
Sabrina McCarty is running for re-election. She was first elected to council in 2014.
Mike Stovall is running for the seat being vacated by Matt Hare, who announced in December that he would not run again due to the increasing demands of his job.
McCarty is employed by Pinnacle Financial Partners in Vinton as office leader. She has worked in the banking industry for over 27 years.
McCarty started her banking career with First Union, working at the call center on Plantation Road in the bankcard division. She eventually moved into the branches as a teller and quickly moved up to teller supervisor. She worked for the National Bank of Commerce, advancing to assistant manager, and then was employed by Valley Bank as a manager and bank officer and was subsequently promoted to her current position.
Since moving to Vinton almost 20 years ago, McCarty has served the Vinton community as president of the Vinton Area Chamber of Commerce for three years and on the Executive Board of the VACC until joining Town Council. She became involved with the Chamber through her position at Valley Bank when she was asked to serve on the Chamber board of directors.
McCarty also served Vinton as a certified member of the Vinton Board of Zoning Appeals.
She was born and raised in Huddleston in Bedford County, graduated from Staunton River High School and attended Liberty University.
She is a dedicated volunteer on other boards, committees, and civic organizations, such as the Vinton Breakfast Lions Club, the Muscular Dystrophy Association, and the American Heart Association. She is married to Chris McCarty.
McCarty says that she chose to run for re-election because she is “happy about the accomplishments that have been made over the past four years and I want to see it continue. It is an exciting time to be ‘In Vinton.’”
Mike Stovall is currently employed by Roanoke County Public Schools as supervisor of transportation. He represented the Vinton district on the Roanoke County School Board for almost 20 years, from 1994 when he was first elected, until he resigned in August 2014. He served as school board chairman in 1997, 2001, and 2010.
He has been involved in public service for about 36 years. Before serving on the school board, he served as an investigator for the Vinton Police Department, beginning his career as a dispatcher at age 19.
Stovall and his wife, Patsy, have three children, Chris, Page, and Patrick. He and his wife have been small business owners in Vinton since 1995 with Alert Driver Training.
He is a third generation Vintonite, a William Byrd graduate, a member of Vinton Baptist Church, past president of the Vinton Dogwood Festival, and a member of the Vinton Breakfast Lions Club.
Stovall hopes council will continue to build on the momentum generated in the town in recent years with extensive economic development projects. He wants to be a voice for citizens and businesses in order to “make Vinton a better place to live.” He is especially interested in speaking for the interests of existing businesses as new businesses come to town.