By CHRISTINE BOATWRIGHT / Staff Writer

VINCENT – Joey Cobb moved his quickly growing family to Vincent in 2002. Now, Cobb has decided to run for mayor.

“The main reason I’m running is Vincent is this is where I’ve chosen to move and raise my family, and hopefully for them to raise their kids,” Cobb said. “I want the town to be the best place it can be. I feel the burden of responsibility to do so.”

Cobb is a financial adviser with Principal Financial Group. He said he has been in management since 2005, owned his own mortgage company and, as a financial advisor, is self-employed. He is also the associate children’s pastor at Victory Christian Church in Pell City.

“The biggest thing I want to see changed is that I want the citizens to be more aware of what’s going on in the town,” he said.

“I would like people to know that we are the next generation, that we have some fresh ideas and we would like to see Vincent to prosper, but still keep the same small-town, hometown feel,” he added.

Cobb said he fell in love with the community after moving from Talladega.

“We really like the small town. We lived here for five years before we moved to where we are now,” he said. “We fell in love with the town and the people.”

Cobb said he wants to encourage people to move to the town.

“The current administration has done some things that have really helped. They got the grants for the fire truck and the policeman and police car, and they finally repaved Autumn Drive, which are all great things,” Cobb said. “There are some other roads that need to be paved. We need to encourage people to move to town, which improves our tax base.

“Vincent has a great school system, but the perception from the outside looking in is that it isn’t,” Cobb added. “I would put it up against any school in the nation.”