Taylor City Council will welcome new faces to the dais soon.
In Saturday’s election, Shelli Cobb won the Taylor City Council District 2 seat election with 64.98% of the vote. Cobb defeated incumbent Mitch Drummond, 28.52%, Terry Burris, 5.96%, and Sandra Wolff, 0.54%.
“My vision is to give the people of Taylor a voice in the decisions that are being made and to actually listen to them,” Cobb said. “And, to move forward with our community in the growth that’s going to come, but in the way our citizens want it to come.”
Drummond, who previously served on the council for six years, said he wasn’t surprised by the results, saying he knew moving forward would be difficult after the council’s vote on compensation increase “stirred everyone up.”
Although he will no longer be on the dais, Drummond said he will be involved with Taylor going forward, advocating for specific agendas.
“I’m concerned about the way Taylor is going to be growing into the future,” Drummond said. “We want this to be a walkable, bikeable community that everyone can afford to live (at). That’s where we need to go and we want to make sure that happens.”
Another newcomer will join Cobb on the council, as Kelly Cmerek won the District 3 seat with a 90.76% landslide. Cmerek’s opponent, Nathan Walker, previously announced he no longer wanted to be considered for the seat.
Cmerek said he is excited to have the opportunity to serve on the council.
“We’re on the cusp of unprecedented change, and we hope to bring wisdom, faith and experience to all...the big decisions we have to make,” Cmerek said. “We want Taylor to be the same...fundamental Taylor we all grew up with, we want it to be the same even though we know it’s going to change.”
In addition, all six propositions passed in the Taylor election.
Proposition A, which sets compensation for City Council at $125 a meeting in the city charter, passed with a 79.03% decision.
Other propositions adding charter amendments involved setting a minimum amount of time between council meetings, having residents elect the at-large position to serve as mayor and requiring meetings to be held in Taylor.
At press time, no information was available as to when the amendments would take effect.
Taylor Independent School District’s board of trustees remains unchanged in the aftermath of the election. Incumbents Marilyn Tennill and Anita Volek remain on the school board for three-year terms.
Tennill gained 80.17% of the vote for the Taylor ISD at-large seat, besting Todd Gratehouse.
“I’ve taught for 43 years, so I try to be the voices,” Tennill said. “I’m very concerned about scores, about morale, we have all kinds of things. I’m very proud of our pay grade.”
Meanwhile, Volek ran unopposed for her Place 2 seat. She said she originally wasn’t going to run for re-election because she serves as the executive director for the Taylor Education Enrichment Foundation, but received foundation approval to run again after nobody filed.
“I’m excited to serve alongside my fellow board members again,” Volek said. “We’re not going to have a board turnover … just continue to do the good things we’ve been doing for a long time.”
In the Hutto City Council Place 2 election, incumbent Dan Thornton won his race with a slight 51.69% victory over Cory Denena.
The Place 5 election likely will be a runoff between Dana Wilcott, 32.86%, and Evan Porterfield, 18.81%.
All but one of Hutto’s proposed propositions passed, with Proposition D only receiving 33.41% “for” votes.
At Hutto Independent School District, incumbents Amy English and James Matlocks earned re-election bids. Matlock tallied 34.50% of the vote and English earned 31.93% of the vote.
Thrall Independent School District’s three open seats will be filled by Stephanie Ochoa, Rodrigo Reyes and Domingo Valdez.
Only 24,042 of the 431,845 registered voters in Williamson County voted, according to election information.
Anita Volek and Marilyn Tennill, who won their re-election campaigns for their respective Taylor Independent School District trustee positions, sit together during a school board meeting.
Kelly Cmerek won a landslide victory for his District 3 seat after his opponent announced they no longer wanted to be considered.
Photos by Hunter Dworaczyk
