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Fairfax City voters elect new council
Voters in Fairfax City on Tuesday elected three new members to the six-seat city council and returned incumbent Mayor Robert Lederer to serve for a fourth consecutive term in office.
Lederer, who ran unopposed in 2006, beat out two challengers this year, Rosemary McDowell and Cristina Gaines. The mayor received 2,145 votes or 70 percent of the total cast.
The top two vote getters for city council, David Meyer and Steve Stombres, each garnering an equal number of ballots at 1,974, are also newcomers to office.
Fellow neophyte Dan Drummond narrowly defeated incumbent Patrice Winter by 27 votes with 1,664 ballots to her 1,637 to win the sixth and final council seat.
Incumbents Jeffrey Greenfield, Gary Rasmussen and Joan Cross were all reelected to the city council. Greenfield received 1,836 votes, Rasmussen got 1,793 and Cross tallied 1,717.
Winning seats in an uncontested election for city school board were Janice Miller, Toby Sorensen, Julie Knight, Jon Buttram and Elisa Lueck.
"I'm humbled and I'm honored certainly to be your mayor," Lederer told a large audience crowded into Old Town Hall for the city's traditional post-election gathering. "We've done a lot, but anybody who has seen me knows we've got a lot in front of us to do."
"Let me just say to all the new folks who will be coming on the council, I look forward to be working with you," Lederer said. "I look forward to talking with you all. Listen to the [election] results. Look at the results. When we get back into the community, lets find out what we've been doing right and what we've been doing wrong."
Councilman-elect David Meyer speaking to the audience acknowledged outgoing Councilwoman Patrice Winter.
"She served well on council and we thank her for all of her time," Meyer said.
"Democracy is like our muscles and our joints. If we don't exercise, our joints stiffen and our muscles atrophy," he Meyer. "This campaign was all about exercising the Democratic process."
"Yes the times are challenging and the economy is giving us some new challenges," Meyer said. "But we're going to move this city forward with our mayor and the other members of council to do that."
Stombres acknowledged the two incumbent council members who announced earlier this year that they would not be seeking reelection.
"I want to thank a few people who are retiring from the council. Gail Lyon thank you for your six years of service," Stombres said. "I want to thank Councilman Scott Silverthorne for everything he's done for our city. He's just been an icon for this community."
As is custom at the city's post-election gatherings, those who did not win office are also granted the opportunity to speak.
"I just want to say what an honor and privilege it has been to work with the citizens of Fairfax City for the last six years," said Winter. "People have come together to support me and hopefully you feel I have supported you for the betterment of the city."
"I want to wish the new city council the very best," she said. "There's still a lot of work to be done."
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