Reminder of upcoming local/municipal elections plus school bond

Terry County municipalities and districts have 10 days before early voting begins for the local/municipal elections. Local and municipal elections historically have very low voter turnout. The 2018 Brownfield Mayor race came down to 13 votes between Mayor Gonzales and Councilman Leon Pope and there were only 535 votes cast which are about 5.6% of the population of Brownfield. Your vote is important, let your voice be heard. Early voting begins April 22nd, 2019 and election day is May 4th, 2019. There are four contested races, a sales tax increase election in the City of Wellman and a BISD Bond election.

Brownfield Regional Medical Center has three Directors-at-large positiona open with the current placeholders; Sue Cottrell, Justin Hesse, & Richard Van Der Vlist. Six candidates will be on the ballot for election and those are Sue Cottrell, Phillip Gore, Justin Hesse, Bobby Lawrence, Taryn Simental, and Richard VanDerVlist.

Meadow ISD has a contested race as well with two trustees-at-large open. There are five candidates vying for the two spots and they are Danny Castaneda, Christopher Castilleja, Scott Caswell, Keith Harrison, and J’Bob Jowers.

Moving on to another school district race is Wellman-Union ISD. WUISD has three spots open with current placeholders of; Ed “Eddie” Rodriguez, Bobby Brown, & Michael Franke. Five candidates are looking to get one of the three spots and they are Bobby Brown, Ryan Dill, Michael Franke, Aaron Martin, and Ed Rodriguez.

The fourth contested race is Brownfield City Council District 5. Current District 5 placeholder Ray McFarland will be coming off the council because of term limits. So the open seat is contested with Isaiah Bautista and Eric Horton vying for this one seat.

Also on the ballot for the City of Wellman, the citizens will be able to vote on raising the sales tax in Wellman. The current sales tax for the City of Wellman is 6.25% which is required by the State of Texas and local entities can only raise the sales tax up 2% making the sales tax rate capped at 8.25%. The City of Wellman is proposing a 1% hike which if passed will make sales tax in Wellman at 7.25%. As of right now, there is not a vendor in Wellman that qualifies for this sales tax.

The big hot button item is the $40 million bond election for Brownfield ISD. BISD plans, if the bond passes, to build a new high school and move the students from the current middle school to the current high school. The classroom section of the current middle school will be demolished and cleared out. BISD plans to keep the gymnasiums, auditorium, and kitchen/cafeteria and make upgrades to those places. The bond will also be for the construction to secure entrances and visitor screening areas at all academic campuses plus other security renovations. The bond will help fund new playgrounds for both Colonial Heights and Oak Grove Elementary Schools.

Here is the list of candidates that automatically become eligible for their seats because nobody else contested them in this election. For Brownfield ISD, Yvonne Rocha will be Trustee Dist. 1, Randy Anthony Dist. 2, and Cody Churchwell Dist. 3. City of Brownfield District 4 will be Michelle Cooper. City of Brownfield At-Large, two positions will be Tom Hesse and Chuck Nave. City of Meadow At-Large three position but only two applied is Everett McArthur and Kandace Keesee Welch. The City of Wellman Mayor position will Todd Ellis, Place 2 Sally Rodriguez and Place 4 Seth Hollowell.