Cody Sumners, left, and Mike Rochester face off to be the next mayor of Chelsea in the Aug. 26, 2025, municipal elections.
For the first time in nearly a decade, Chelsea voters will elect a new mayor on Aug. 26 — choosing between two candidates offering different perspectives on how to guide the city’s next phase of growth.
City Councilman Cody Sumners, a retired sheriff’s deputy and Chelsea resident since 1985, is running on his long record of public service, with a platform centered on infrastructure, public safety and keeping pace with the city’s rapid expansion. His opponent, business owner Mike Rochester, a former president of the Trussville Chamber of Commerce, is campaigning on transparency, managed growth and fostering stronger support for Chelsea’s business community.
Sumners, who has served on the city council since 2016, said his decision to run came after years of encouragement from residents and his own concerns about infrastructure and strategic planning. “We’ve got some things we need to catch up on," he said. "We’ve been growing and growing really fast. So, we’ve got some road projects that we need to catch up on. We’ve been growing and growing really fast, and maybe it’s time to take a look at that and decide. I know we’re working on a strategic plan right now. Hopefully, we’ll have that in place by the end of the year. So that’ll tell us what the citizens want and give us a roadmap of how to get there,” he said.
He also reflected on how his candidacy came about over time. “I really had a lot of people start coming to me and talking about running for mayor. I still didn’t really have any desire to do it at the time. And then, as some time went by and talking to more people and looking around at things that I thought, you know, we might have to work on and do this different or that different, it just became something I was considering,” Sumners said.
Rochester, who announced his candidacy in June, said Chelsea’s lack of its own Chamber of Commerce is holding the city back. “The problem is we don’t have a Chamber of Commerce. We’re relying on the Shelby County Chamber of Commerce. They’re a great organization, but they’ve got a lot of territory, and they can’t cover our needs the way we need them covered,” he said in a recent video.
He said his experience leading the Chamber of Commerce in Trussville showed him how much a strong business network can contribute to a city’s vitality. “The Chamber represents the interests of its members about lobbying policies that support business growth and economic development at the local level. They host events, they host workshops, seminars to build relationships between businesses who can help each other and feed off of each other’s successes,” Rochester said.
The winner of the race will become Chelsea’s first new mayor since 2016, replacing outgoing Mayor Tony Picklesimer, who announced he will not seek a third term.
In addition to the mayor’s race, voters will decide all five city council seats. Four incumbents — Mayor Pro Tempore Scott Weygand (Place 2), Chris Grace (Place 3), Casey Morris (Place 5) — and newcomer Johnna Barnes (Place 1) are running unopposed and will be issued Certificates of Election at the July 15 city council meeting. The only contested council race is in Place 4, where incumbent Arthur Fisher Jr. faces challenges from Ryan Adams and Jeff Honea II.
Voting will take place Aug. 26 at the Chelsea Community Center, 11101 Chelsea Road, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
280 Living will have extensive coverage of the elections online and in the August print edition.
