Gladewater City Council candidate Stoney Stone visits with a voter outside Gladewater City Hall May 4. In the race for Place 3 on the council dais, Stone netted 300 votes to 134 for incumbent Mayor Scott Owens, according to unofficial results released after polls closed Saturday.
[Above: Gladewater Mayor-elect Brandy Flanagan (left) visits with Sandra Smith Saturday afternoon outside Gladewater City Hall. Flanagan netted 229 votes to secure the seat in her May 4 contest with Jim Valentine (206 votes), according to unofficial results released Saturday evening.]
The Fourth was with Brandy Flanagan Saturday – Gladewater voters selected the six-year city council veteran to step up into the center spot on the dais at City Hall.
According to unofficial election results released at 8:06 p.m. May 4, at least 435 locals cast ballots in the Spring election cycle between Early Voting April 22-30 and Election Day polling Saturday.
In other decisions, newcomer Stoney Stone secured the Place 3 seat against incumbent Mayor Scott Owens, and voters approved most of the proposed amendments to the city’s charter. Place 2 council member Michael Webber was uncontested in his re-election bid.
Notably, the initial tally Saturday night does not include late mail, Military, Cured Ballots, and Provisional Ballots, but outstanding votes are unlikely to change the end results.
In the mayor’s race (Place 1), Flanagan netted 229 votes to 206 for Jim Valentine. Support for Stone totaled 300 ballots to Owens’ 134 for Place 3 (currently held by Flanagan until the Gladewater council canvasses votes and swears the winners into office later this month). Webber received 351 supporting votes.
Officers and jail trustees escort Gladewater City Clerk Judy Von Houten and the 2024 Spring Election ballots into the Gregg County Courthouse Saturday evening. Von Houten hand-delivered the secured ballots at 7:51 p.m. and sent out an announcement of unofficial results 15 minutes later.
Regarding the changes to the city charter, most were solidly approved by voters except for Amendment A, aimed at updating the charter’s preamble with a note that male pronouns in the document’s language accounted for women as well. Voters rejected the change 235 to 192.
The approved changes include:
• Amendment B. A small date-oriented update to election code.
• Amendment C. Adopting consequences for council members with excessive absences.
• Amendment D. Extending the city judge’s appointed from one year to two and officially including language about the city prosecutor.
• Amendment E. Adding a provision that city managers may live within 30 miles of the Gladewater city limits.
• Amendment F. Clarifying the city’s chain of command to reinforce the city manager’s supervisory authority over all other council-appointed department heads and officials.
• Amendment G. Updating language on fines to allow for change over time.
• (A proposed eighth amendment, stripping outdated language about how to use voting machines, was discussed but dropped before the May 4 ballot was finalized.)
See the May 9 edition of the Gladewater Mirror for more election coverage.