Mayor Pro Tem Robert Ahlert, 72, and Councilman Bob Satterfield, 52, say that when they took their seats on the Clayton town council a decade ago the town was near bankruptcy.

Now the budget is balanced.

"In the past twelve years the town of Clayton has prospered," Ahlert said. "And I want to continue that."

Satterfield said, "you've got a winning team. Why do you want to pull a winning team out? It makes no sense."

But both men, along Councilman Michael Grannis, who has served one four-year-term, are up for reelection. And their challengers see things differently.

Eight candidates are hoping to fill three seats on Clayton's town council.

"I support term limits. I don't think that the same ideas need to be drummed up over and over," said Michael Carrothers, a 42-year-old contractor for the U.S. Postal Service who is running for office for the first time.

Steve Agbayani, a 39-year-old applications developer for SAS Institute with no political experience, says, "there's a need for new energy and just diversity within this town council."

Some challengers point to the mostly African-American north side of Clayton as an example of why the council should be more diverse.

The neighborhood has inferior parks and a gang problem, according to Russell Cotten, the only African-American in the race.

"We feel it's the good old boys tradition of looking out for themselves and their neighborhood rather than looking at the big picture," said Cotten, who has never run for office before. He has worked on political campaigns, including President Barack Obama's.

Incumbent Michael Grannis, 62, who is seeking a second term on the council, admits the council has not done enough for the neighborhood.

"We've not really heard enough from the citizens of that particular community," Grannis said. "But equally important if not more importantly, we as council members and also as town officials have not really been resourceful in seeking out ourselves things that need to be done."

There's talk about building a new park in that community.

While some complain that there's not enough development in some parts of town, others say there's too much growth in Clayton as a whole.

"We need to slow down development if at all possible to let some of the developments that have been approved grow and be mostly completed. There are four or five developments approved that have never been started," said Art Holder, 71, who is running for council for the second time.

None of the challengers have held public office before.

"I'm just a regular guy, a citizen who wants to contribute and be part of the system," said 31-year-old Brooks E. Remencus.

Remencus, a salesman who moved to Clayton about three years ago, doesn't know what his chances are. But, "if I get people thinking about some of the issues that I'm interested in, really the whole green aspect in terms of what it can do for our government, I think that's huge," he said.

Election Day is Tuesday, November 3.

Click here for coverage from the Clayton News Star.

Click here for coverage from the Garner-Clayton Record.