Local election coverage, Celina Record

Election wrap up: Former councilman ousts incumbent Lisa Ferguson, lferguson@starlocalmedia.com May 11, 2016 Celina City Councilman Erik Geiger lost his bid for re-election to the Place 1 seat following the city’s general election Saturday. According to unofficial election results, Geiger garnered 179 votes (39.3 percent) versus challenger Bill Webber, who received 276 votes (60.7 percent). Webber is a former Celina City Council member. He held the Place 5 seat from 2010 to 2014. “This is a message from the people of Celina, and I accept the challenge," Webber said hours after the polls closed, adding that his first order of business will be "figuring out what I have lost my grip on the last two-and-a-half years of not being in those (council) meetings ... digging in and getting down to business.” Among the most pressing issues, he said, is addressing the controversy surrounding the stormwater utility fee the city will begin imposing on residents this month. “I want to dig into it to figure out what brought us to this and get the answers that everybody wants," Webber said. Geiger said of his loss that he didn’t think any candidate who would have run this year to retain a City Council position “would have had much luck, honestly.” He said the council “made some pretty significant decisions this past year and they didn’t strike everybody necessarily the way you would hope they would, but I think they were all decisions made in the best interest of our town and our city and the way that it’s going.” He said that there is “misinformation” circulating about several key city issues, including the stormwater utility fee, and that Webber likely “capitalized on some of that. “It’s easy to say I would have done this and I wouldn’t have done that when you’re not doing it,” Geiger said, reflecting on the year he spent on the council. “I believe the city needs to be running the growth and controlling the growth, and so I think the (council’s) aggressiveness in trying to annex properties and gain control, I’m real proud of that,” he explained. Geiger will remain on the council until July, and he plans to continue to stay involved in the community. “I wasn’t aspiring to small-town political greatness,” he said, “but I do like to help.” Mayor Pro Tem Chad Anderson, who ran unopposed to retain the Place 6 spot, received 275 votes. He said he will continue to pay close attention to infrastructure needs as the city grows. "Our city manager and engineers are leading the way to try to make sure we are ahead of the game so we don’t have to have any future problems." Also on the general-election ballot were eight propositions to amend Celina’s home-rule charter, which contains the city’s rules for self-government. Six propositions easily passed with at least 71 percent voter support. Proposition 1 passed with 88.4 percent (389 votes) in favor, and Proposition 2 with 86.5 percent (378 votes). Proposition 3 (74.9 percent in favor), Proposition 4 (84.7 percent), Proposition 6 (86.3 percent), and Proposition 8 (305 votes, 71.76 percent). Proposition 7 narrowly passed after garnering 52.7 percent of votes in favor. Only Proposition 5, which would have amended the charter to provide compensation for Celina City Council members, failed to pass. Just over 62 percent of ballots were cast against the measure. According to City Attorney Lance Vanzant, the charter amendments will be made official once an ordinance is passed during the City Council canvassing meeting scheduled at 4 p.m. May 18 at Celina City Hall, 142 N. Ohio Dr. The city is also required to send a certified copy of the amended charter to the Secretary of State. Webber will be sworn in to his new council position at a later date. In a special election of the Celina ISD Board of Trustees, incumbent Brooks Barr retained the Place 4 position by receiving 315 votes, or nearly 61 percent of ballots cast, versus challenger Wendie Wigginton, who received 204 votes. “The one thing that really excites me is there were a lot of people who got out and voted ... which shows that there are a lot of people who are concerned or care about Celina schools," Barr said. Barr was first elected to the school board in 2006, then re-elected in 2009. He was appointed to the Place 4 seat last year. Moving forward on the board, he said he plans “to continue to look for what can make Celina better. What can we add? What can we do differently, if there is anything? … I think we’ve got the vision. It's just now putting the vision into place." Although disappointed by the election’s outcome, Wigginton, who moved from San Diego to Celina less than two years ago, was pleased with her campaign. “I think as a newcomer to come in and get 40 percent of the vote should send a message to the current (school) board,” she said, “that there are things that the community thinks they need to do better. “I hope that it sparked conversation among not just the board, but the parents and administrators about different ideas that we need to implement for change, things we can improve on.” Voters likely have not seen the last of Wigginton, who said she is already considering a future run for the school board or possibly the City Council. “I would do this again because I really think that I’ve learned a lot about Celina,” she said. “I just think that some new perspective is still needed.”