SOUTH POINT — On Election Day voters in South Point must decide between 10 candidates to fill the four available village council spots.

A couple of incumbents are on the ballot as Christopher Smith and Danny Smith are looking for re-election. Seven of the eight remaining candidates, if elected, would be newcomers to the village council. Buel Collins has served on council in the past.

“I’m running to restore community pride in South Point,” said Jim Payne, an attorney. “That’s the No. 1 issue in our village right now, a lack of pride. Our streets are dirty, houses and buildings are dilapidated.”

Payne says cleaning up South Point would once again make residents proud of where they’re from, leading to better morale and more jobs.

“When your streets start to get dirty and people stop being prideful of where they live it leads to bad things,” he said. “Drug use goes up, crime rates go up, and that doesn’t attract businesses or jobs to our area.”

Mary Cogan, a South Point business owner, voiced her concerns about the drug situation in the area as well.

“Illegal drug use is a huge problem for South Point right now,” Cogan said. “The drug problem causes other problems and it goes hand in hand with the escalation of thefts we’ve been experiencing.”

Compounding those problems is an under funded police force, Dale Jackson said.

“Our police force is in desperate need of help,” he said. “The first step is to make sure this levy passes. That will help a lot, but there are also grants and stuff out there that we need to go after.”

The other candidates in the village council race are Buel Collins, Michael Lynd, David Moore, Sam Suiter Jr. and Eric Rawlins.

The voting polls open at 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday and will close at 7:30 p.m.