RENNERT — Mayor-elect Olivia Alford will be the first African-American woman elected to the mayoral office in Rennert’s history.

Alford is a lifelong resident of Robeson County, born in Rennert and raised in St. Pauls, before moving back to Rennert over a decade ago, and has served on the council and as mayor pro-tem since 2023.

“I ran because there are changes that need to be made here,” Alford said, “and a lot of the citizens actually came to me and asked me, ‘are you running for mayor?’ ‘Won’t you run for mayor?’ ‘It would be a good change for Rennert if you were mayor,’ so I took that into consideration.”

The changes Alford plans to make to the town further her goal of updating it and bringing it into the modern day, as she says the town feels stuck in the 90s.

“You come into Renne

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