As was the case in 2020, this year’s municipal election for the City of Red Bay features multiple candidates vying for the office of mayor.
Mayor Charlene Fancher faced opposition from three opponents in 2020 and she has two challengers in the August 26, 2025 municipal election, Rodney Belue and Mike Shewbart.
But that’s where the similarity between the two campaigns ends.
The 2025 Red Bay mayoral race is one of the most heated municipal campaigns in decades, with candidates directly calling out each other through social media posts and videos.
The ‘gloves off’ campaign has included scathing Facebook posts and videos from Fancher and Belue, a retired Red Bay Police Department officer.
Belue maintains Fancher not only doesn’t live in the city she represents, but she’s actually a Mississippi resident and should be disqualified from seeking reelection. Belue has called on the Red Bay City Council to impeach Fancher and says at least one unnamed council member confirmed to him that Fancher lives in Mississippi, but the council member won’t take any action toward removing her.
“It infuriates me we still have people in positions of trust within our city and none of them have contacted anyone about this. They’re just letting it go, and that’s wrong,” Belue said. “I’m for what’s right. The way it’s been handled it’s just swept under the rug. I’m not for that. I want things to be done correctly under the law.”
Belue, a Russellville City Schools Resource Officer, has reported the issue to the Alabama Attorney General and the Secretary of State’s office, alleging Fancher filed ‘falsified documents’ when qualifying for a third term as mayor.
Belue posted land and deed records for a Golden, Miss., home Fancher purchased last year with her husband Jerry Paul. It’s that property Belue asserts is Fancher’s actual residence, which renders her ineligible for elected office in Red Bay.
Fancher dismisses the allegations as a vendetta from a desperate former city employee raising a ‘red herring’ issue to mask the fact he ‘has no experience or qualifications’ to be mayor.
Fancher said she purchased the home as an investment property with her husband in 2024. Additionally, Fancher said her elderly mother lives in the house in Golden and admits she does spend most nights there taking care of mom.
“We decided to buy this house in Golden, five minutes away from my office, for the purpose of allowing my 87-year-old mother to have more room and so I can help care for her,” Fancher said. “At the time we purchased it, we could not find a property in Red Bay that would service our needs. It just wasn’t there.”
Fancher said her mother-in-law will also move into the house once she completes rehabilitation from surgery, as she will also require overnight care from family.
Fancher said she researched the law before purchasing the house to make sure she remained compliant with her residency requirement. That included contacting the Alabama League of Municipalities and more recently, the Franklin County Board of Registrars.
“They said it’s a non-issue. My voter registration hasn’t changed and my homestead remains in our Red Bay home,” Fancher said.
Fancher, who’s lived in Red Bay her entire life, takes offense to claims she’s not a Red Bay resident.
“My roots run deep in Red Bay. I’ve been a Red Bay girl all my life. I was city clerk for nine years. My family has three businesses in Red Bay. That’s three business licenses, lodging tax, etc. We built our home here, bought supplies locally. This is my home, where I have my roots, and it will always be my home,” Fancher said.
Fancher finds the allegations frustrating because she believes they take voters’ focus away from important issues, including what’s been accomplished in Red Bay during her nine years as mayor.
So Fancher decided on July 5th to post a 15-plus minute video responding to the allegations against her while also touting her 26 years of experience as a City of Red Bay employee and/or elected official.
“(Belue) has been very verbal on my campaign on social media, slamming an experienced mayor who does extensive research on everything involving municipal government, so it’s time to set the record straight on Rodney Belue,” Fancher said in her video to voters.
There’s nothing subtle about Fancher’s video. It’s an unusual move for a veteran elected official who has served four terms (two on the Red Bay City Council) representing her city.
Belue said he never had any issues with Fancher while he worked for the police department, and he wasn’t even aware of the residency issue until after announcing he was considering a run for mayor, so he calls Fancher’s claims of a vendetta ‘baseless.’
“It’s just something she’s throwing out there. My main issue is to be honest. And she’s the one saying she’s transparent. If you can’t even be honest about where you’re living, how can you say you’re being transparent? I can’t understand that. It just blows my mind,” Belue said.
“I want to win. But my main issue is getting the truth brought out. If I don’t win and Mike Shewbart wins, I’m okay with that as long as a trustworthy, honest opponent wins. And so many residents have told me about sending messages, filing complaints on drainage issues, road conditions, etc., going to the mayor and being promised things that were never done,” he added.
Belue has also raised concerns about the the city’s use of proceeds from Red Bay’s occupational tax, a local income tax imposed on individuals working within the city limits, alleging proceeds from the tax end up in the city’s general fund and are not used for educational purposes.
“If we’re collecting over $600,000 each year on the occupational tax that was voted in for Red Bay School, why are we paying for extracurriculars or even fundraising for that matter?,” Belue said.
In her video, Fancher said no occupational tax proceeds are deposited in the city’s general fund, and from January 1, 2020 through December 31, 2024, $775,409.91 was contributed to Red Bay Schools in occupational tax proceeds.
Belue’s campaign also calls for a change in Red Bay’s Police Chief if he is elected mayor. Belue supports veteran Red Bay officer Eddie Chandler, who recently retired, over current Chief Janna Jackson.
“My biggest problem with Janna is she’s one of the administrators within the City of Red Bay and she’s the police chief but won’t even contact the State of Alabama knowing the mayor lives in Mississippi,” Belue said.
The third candidate, former Red Bay Director of Operations Mike Shewbart, has not escaped the melee either, as he faces allegations of mismanagement and incompetence during his previous employment with the city, as well as allegedly supporting actions in his role on the Red Bay Water and Gas Board that resulted in personal gain to family members.
Shewbart ran for mayor along with Fancher and Bobby Nelson in 2016. Fancher defeated Shewbart in the runoff election by a 498-484 vote total.
Shewbart will retire September 1, 2025, from his managerial position with Shoals Recycling, so if elected, he will be able to serve in the full-time mayor’s post.
Shewbart was hired as Red Bay Park and Recreation Director in November 2011. After David Tiffin was appointed Red Bay Mayor in 2013, Shewbart was hired as Director of Operations for the city.
When he ran in 2016, Shewbart used 88 days of accrued sick leave from city employment while he campaigned for mayor. An ethics complaint was filed against Shewbart, but the State of Alabama Ethics Commission concluded there was no probable cause to believe Shewbart violated any state ethics laws by doing so.
When Fancher narrowly defeated Shewbart in 2016, Shewbart remained employed as Red Bay Street Superintendent until Fancher fired him after Founders Day in 2017.
Fancher said Shewbart, from her first day as mayor, ‘neglected his responsibilities in hopes of hurting me.’
In her video, Fancher said she fired Shewbart after the 2017 Founders Day after he failed to show up early the morning of the event when contacted about a major sewer line issue that shut down Bay Tree Park bathrooms on the park’s busiest day of the year.
“Mike revealed his love and commitment to Red Bay on its busiest day of the year. I will never forget it,” Fancher said. “Mike was nowhere to be found that day. He didn’t care. He was contacted for help and never showed up.
“We survived that day by opening bathrooms at the fire department building. However, Mike’s irresponsible behavior that day cost him his job. I terminated him the next Monday. I’ve gone on to say I don’t fire people. People fire themselves,” Fancher added.
Fancher questions why Shewbart isn’t touting his experience as Red Bay Director of Operations and on the Red Bay Water and Gas Board, where he serves as chairman.
“He hopes you have forgotten the reason for his dismissal from that position of Director of Operations. And he doesn’t want you to know the result of his actions serving on the Red Bay Water and Gas Board,” Fancher said. “There’s one thing Mike Shewbart is good at. He’s good at spending taxpayers’ money to benefit himself and his family.”
The Red Bay Water and Gas Board commissioned a feasibility study of a proposed project to extend gas service to the Burnout/Halltown communities.
Fancher said the engineering study concluded the board should ‘further evaluate the feasibility of the gas extension project,’ as the payback period would be at least 20 years to recoup the estimated $3.1 million construction cost.
“Instead of listening to the engineer, the board pursued the gas expansion project and hired a new engineer to oversee the project,” Fancher said. “The project is currently in litigation. To sum this up, $4,391,790.69 was financed on a project that doesn’t exist. There’s gas lines on the ground at Cleveland Circle with no gas.”
Fancher said Shewbart made motions to approve all phases of the project knowing the citizens and businesses of Red Bay would be saddled with paying for the project over the next two decades.
“Mike made every motion regardless of the fact his family owns property along Highway 24 and his family will benefit from the extension of gas,” Fancher said. “Have you wondered why your water and gas bill is so expensive? Bingo, now you know,” she added.
Shewbart acknowledges he has family members who own land in the project area, but said it’s a small portion of the total property involved in the expansion. Shewbart said a second engineering company told the board the project would pay for itself once all new users were hooked to the gas lines.
He said expansion of utilities and infrastructure east of Red Bay is necessary to allow industrial growth in the only direction available around the city.
“If new industry comes to Red Bay, it’s coming to the east side. If you go west, you get into Mississippi,” Shewbart said. “If we don’t put gas lines there, we lose that potential for growth. It’s the only growth spot we have for Red Bay.”
As for Fancher’s residency, Shewbart has not publicly addressed the issue.
“I don’t know where she lives at. I don’t go follow her, but a lot of people say there are no cars at this house in Red Bay ever,” Shewbart said. “I don’t know where she lays her head down at night. That’s something she has to live with.”
Shewbart said his motivation in running for mayor is simple: a desire to serve the community he loves.
“I enjoy serving people and doing things to help others. And as mayor, I can do that. And I look forward to serving the people of Red Bay in that position,” Shewbart said. “I’ll talk about what I can do and what my philosophy is and won’t get into slinging mud. I’m running a positive campaign and I’ll let those who sling mud sling it without me.”
Shewbart wants to see a comprehensive study conducted of all streets in Red Bay. That will allow the mayor and council to repair streets first that are graded the lowest with top priority.
“We also have a lot of drainage issues. We have businesses being flooded. I stopped that pretty well one time and it got undone,” Shewbart said. “Streets and flooding/drainage are the top issues I’m hearing. I was Director of Operations and had experience with those issues. We had a plan. What I want to do is finish the job. With the grading system, everyone in Red Bay will know when their road will be paved.”
Fancher, on the other hand, said she saved Red Bay residents more than $500,000 since she took over Street Superintendent duties with no additional pay after firing Shewbart in 2017.
“I serve the City of Red Bay not only as mayor, but as Street Superintendent. That’s how committed I am to our city,” Fancher said.
The five city council seats in 2020 were all unopposed and this year finds four of the five council positions uncontested, with the exception being Place 3 Councilman Herbert Trulove, who faces a challenge from Kathryn Cantrell Wilkins and Jonathon Strickland.
Alabama municipal elections will take place Tuesday, August 26th, with polls open from 7-7. Absentee voting is already underway.
