MARCH 14 UPDATE All races in McLendon-Chisholm, Fate contested

UPDATED MARCH 14 WITH CORRECTION

Leslie Gibson

In the cities of McLendon-Chisholm and of Fate, each council seat up for election has two or more candidates in this May’s civic elections.

Heath and Fate voters must each fill a newly-created seat.

Royse City voters will choose from three for a mayor, but not the incumbent.

Rockwall needs no election — the incumbents are the only filers.

Write-in candidates may be submitted on Monday, March 16, during regular business hours at the offices of the secretaries for the various cities. But only those who turned in a candidacy before the close of filing on Monday will have their names printed on the ballots.

Fate (updated as of March 14)

Fate adopted a home rule charter in November, which added a sixth seat to its council.

It is up for election in May, for a one-year term, to bring it into cycle with the other even-numbered seats.

The odd-numbered seats are up in May for the two-year terms. Each is contested.

Running for Place 1 are Autumn Lobinsky and Kerry Wiemolky. The incumbent, Rodney Smith, did not file.

Place 3 is being sought by incumbent Forest Murley and by Wilbur “Willie” Williams.

K.C. Erwin, the council appointee in Place 6, is seeking to be elected to Place 5, as are Ryan Pfuhl and Brad Bianucci.

The new seat, Place 6, is being sought by David Hill and Tammy Ryan.

Erwin is the appointee in Place 6 at this time — being appointed to that seat and sworn in in January, after the November charter passage required that that seat be filled.

Public confusion as to which numbers went to which existing council members came to light recently.

Fate implemented the council place numbering on Feb. 2, to adhere to the new charter. The association of place numbers and names as stated in the February meeting and reported by the press, has proven to be different than what was noted on the ordinance signed by Mayor Bill Broderick and dated Feb. 2

When Williams filed, he thought he was filing for Place 1, to run against Forest Murley. He learned afterward that Forest is actually in Place 3. Williams then changed his candidacy to reflect that.

He reportedly expressed his dismay about the misinformation with the city secretary, Eddie Sturgall.

Sturgall told the Herald-Banner this week that what he said aloud at the meeting was not a direct reading of the ordinance. During the meeting, Sturgall said he had worked with the city attorney to come up with the places and names.

“Position 1 would be Rodney Smith, I mean Forest Murley, three would be Rodney Smith; Place 5 would be Dawn Payne, Place 2 would go to Steve Skipworth, four Sheri Garber and Number 6 K.C. Erwin.”

The vote to approve the ordinance was unanimous.

After the meeting ended, the Herald-Banner reporter questioned Sturgall about the order and took down that 1,3,5 would be in order of seniority: Smith, Murley, Erwin/Payne, and 2,4,6 Skipworth, Garber Erwin/Payne.

(The printed story of Feb. 13 in the Rockwall County Herald-Banner contained the order which was spoken aloud during the meeting. Also, the printed story of March 13 said that K.C. Erwin holds Place 5 at this time. He does not, he holds place 6.

McLendon-Chisholm

Each incumbent in McLendon-Chisholm is facing a candidate in the May civic election.

Incumbent Beverly Stibbens is being challenged by Dr. Jess Lovell for Place 1.

In Place 3, incumbent Jerry Moss is facing Patrick Short.

Incumbent James Parnell and Gary Moody are vying for Place 5.

Heath

Three candidates are seeking the one Heath city council seat created by the Heath city charter amendments passed in November.

John Koerner, Rich Krause and Tommy Goodson are running for newly created Place 6 which, by charter, will be activated in May.

Unopposed are the incumbents of the three existing seats: Bob Hille, Place 1; Karen Lewis, Place 2; and Steve McKimmey, Place 4.

Royse City

Three candidates have filed for Royse City mayor: William Archer, Jerrell Baley, and Connie Goodwin.

In addition to the mayor’s spot, three council places are up for the May election, for which filing ended on Monday at 5 p.m.

Three are vying for Place 1: Janet Nichol, Brooks M. Williams, and Xavier Cortez.

Bill Bell is the lone candidate for Place 3.

Two have filed for Place 5: James Branch and Mark Plemmons.

Terms of each seat and the mayor are two years.

In no case did incumbents file.

Royse City is overcoming a financial shortfall discovered as the 2007-08 budget year came to a close, and had to raise the tax, lay off employees, take out and pay back a loan, and slash the 2008-09 budget.

Jim Mellody did not file for re-election as mayor, and mayor pro-tem, Mary Johnson, did not file for Place 5 which she holds now. Matt Benedetto on Place 1, and Don Becknell on Place 3, did not file.

Rockwall

Rockwall Mayor Bill Cecil, and three Rockwall city council members will each be serving another full two-year term since no one filed to run against them, so no May city election is needed.

That keeps David Sweet in Place 1; Glen Farris in Place 3; and Matthew Scott in Place 5.

Rockwall ISD Board has two contested seats, one unopposed

Rockwall ISD board of trustee places are being contested with the exception of that of Place 3, where only incumbent Craig Zurek has filed.

Three are vying for Place 2: Russ Childers, Norman Quintero, and Earl Milner. Current Place 2 trustee, Brad Lamberth, did not file.

For Place 1, Chris Cuny and Tony Fisk have filed. Dr. David Jackson, in Place 1 now, is not running.

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