BROOKINGS – There will be no new faces on the Brookings City Council, with incumbents Nick Wendell, Patty Bacon and Holly Tilton Byrne staying on the board, but the races were close Tuesday.
There were 3,694 ballots cast.
Aurora will have a new councilor representing Ward 2 after a two-person race.
Brookings incumbent Holly Tilton Byrne edged out challenger Joey Collins by 142 votes to retain hold of her one-year seat on Brookings City Council. In the race for two, three-year seats, only 143 votes separated incumbent second-place Patty Bacon and third-place Nick Schmeichel, who issued a challenge to the other candidates after the votes were counted.
Tilton Byrne took 1,464 votes to Collins’ 1,322 votes. There was a total of 3,160 votes cast, with no over-votes and 374 under-votes.
“It has been an eventful past week,” said Tilton Byrne, who gave birth to her second daughter last week. “I am just very thrilled to have the opportunity to continue to serve the people of Brookings. This has been just a wonderful experience over the last year being on council. And to be given the chance to continue to serve is truly an honor. I would highly encourage folks to reach out to me any time that they would like to talk about the issues that are important to them.
“I definitely want to congratulate all of the candidates on this year’s ballot because it really was a lot of fun getting to know all of them and getting the opportunity to have really meaningful conversations about the issues that affect Brookings,” Tilton Byrne said.
There were two, three-year seats up for grabs. Incumbent Nick Wendell led the pack with 1,725 votes, followed by Bacon with 1,508. Schmeichel came in with 1,365, and challenger Verna Longville totaled 657 votes. There were 6,320 total votes cast in the race with 38 over-votes and 1,027 under-votes.
“I would certainly like to say thank you to the community of Brookings for supporting me in a re-election. I’m really honored to have the opportunity to serve again,” Wendell said.
“I’d like to also say thank you to those candidates who also ran. To Patty, and to Nick, and to Verna and also to Holly and Joey. I know what kind of courage it takes to put your name on the ballot, so I appreciate the spirit of our campaign,” Wendell said.
Having a community where people are engaged in what happens and are willing to run “makes for a more productive campaign and, at the end of the day, I think, a stronger council,” Wendell said.
“I’m excited to get back to work. It feels like we were in the midst of lots of important projects and the campaign has given us all an opportunity to hear from the community about the things they care about and prioritize and I’m excited to dig in,” Wendell said.
“I am just thrilled and I thank everyone who supported me and voted for me,” Bacon said. “I look forward to continuing the work I started in my first three years, and I’m so thrilled I’ve got another three-year shot at working some more.”
Even though Schmeichel didn’t get enough votes for a seat on the council, he still offered community support after the election.
“I believe that leadership should be leading by example, and that’s what I’m doing,” he said.
“I will be donating $500 to the Helping Hands fund at the school for people who can’t afford lunches,” Schmeichel said. “I’m hoping that other city councilors will do this, as well.”
Mayor Keith Corbett ran unopposed and will be sworn in for a three-year term in May. When Corbett was elected mayor last year, his term on the council had two more years left on it. Tilton Byrne was appointed last year to fill in until the election Tuesday. She will fill in the remaining year and the seat will be up for re-election in 2019.
Over in Aurora, challenger Josh Kukrall beat out long-time incumbent Allen Pace by 97-26. Pace had been on the council for 14 years and president for 12.
Contact Jodelle Greiner at jgreiner@brookingsregister.com.
