Boles reelected, Boyd, Mansell and McCauley win council seats

The result are "unofficial" so far, but for those who were there to hear them tallied the votes are all in. In this election 1,207 people cast ballots and only 7 of those were rejected. In the mayoral election Jim Boles received 667 valid votes and George McGuire 525. Boles, the current mayor, stayed ahead through most of the count, but it got closer at times.

For City Council the incumbents, Robin Boyd and Robert Mansell were returned to their seats and Tom McCauley took the only open seat, vacated by Curtis Hardy who did not choose to run again. Boyd had 727 votes, Mansell 678 and McCauley 608.

What was interesting for the listeners during the vote count was that people who voted for Boles might vote for only those not already on the council, and people voting for McGuire often voted for Boyd and Mansell who had joined Boles in his campaign for re-election. Peter Cake was in the fourth position with 561 votes, Henry Juergens ran fifth with 338 and Ruby Valdez was only 12 votes behind him with 326.

Boles checked the records and has provided the following information: In the city elections 36 people have been elected to the mayor's office, and four of them for three terms straight. These were J.A. Greaves 1940-46, Tom Whipple 1968-74, Bill Elzey 1986-92, Jim Boles 1994-00. One woman, Georgia Metzger was elected, and reelected twice, but not immediate succession. Metzger's terms were 1982-86 and 1992-94. Boles is the first mayor to be elected to a fourth term.

The council has had 176 individual who served over the 100 years, including only seven women. The longest term of service is that of Curtis Hardy who has been on the council for a total of 16 years. Leonard Graham is next with 15 years and E. L. Black served 14 years, the next longest memberships on city council.

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