By MELINDA J. OVERSTREET
for Glasgow News 1
According to the unofficial vote tallies released by the Barren County Board of Elections via the county clerk’s office, one-third of the Glasgow Common Council will be new for the two-year term that begins next year.
Those results were released at approximately 9 p.m. Tuesday.
The council has nine seats, and all of the incumbents were seeking re-election and seven potential newcomers hoped to be added to the city’s legislative government body.
According to the unofficial results, the top nine vote getters were Randy Wilkinson, with 2,306 votes; Chasity Lowery with 2,057; James “Happy” Neal, 2,053; Joe Trigg, 1,939; Tommy Burris, 1,917; Terry Bunnell, 1,768; Freddie Norris, 1,736; Marna Kirkpatrick, 1,666; and Elizabeth Shoemaker, 1,538. Wilkinson, Burris and Shoemaker are not currently part of the council.
The incumbents not returning are Patrick Gaunce, who got 1,490 votes; Max Marion, with 1,464; and Marlin Witcher with 1,139. The other candidates who were not elected are Libby Short, who just missed that ninth spot with 1,525 votes; Phillip Gearlds with 1,425; Matt Keith, 1,240; Cherie Vaughan, 1,038; and Justin Martin, 912.
Wilkinson may be a newcomer to the city council, but he retired from Glasgow Independent Schools after having served in a variety of positions through the years, so he was well-known to many. He publicly posted this statement to his Facebook account Tuesday evening:
“I’m very thankful for everyone who voted for me and even more grateful for everyone who simply got out to vote!
“As I have said already, I’m not a politician, but I am a lifelong resident who wants to see our city improve and would like to help in that endeavor. This is not a lifetime appointment, as I’ve also said. If I feel like I am not making a difference or about to make a difference, I won’t run again.
“My only goal is to work with other council members, the mayor and city officials to make a positive difference in our community. Thanks again for the votes cast for me and although I will not take OFFICE until January, I will certainly begin working to get my knowledge base up to speed as quickly as possible.
“We can make our community strong and successful AND we can support one another! One is not independent of the other….if we think *long term*!
“Thanks in advance and ~thank you again to the voters for giving me my opportunity to work on making a difference for you!”
Several of the council candidates stopped by the studio of WCLU radio station, which has recently come under the same umbrella company as Glasgow News 1 has been since its inception, Commonwealth Broadcasting Corp., and some shared their comments with GN1 personnel after preliminary tallies were reported there earlier. CBC personnel collected information on the results from the various polling locations around the county and brought them to the station, where accountants from Campbell, Myers & Rutledge calculated the totals.
Lowery, an incumbent of 10 years, was one of those present, and she told Glasgow News 1 that she appreciated that the residents here continue to have faith in her and her family for their constant support.
“I just try to do my job, and the people have elected me to represent them, and that’s what I always try to keep in mind,” she said. “I just want us to keep moving forward with all the positive progress we had with collaboration between city and county and all the departments. I think good things are coming our way.”
Burris, another of the new faces coming, said “nervous” didn’t begin to describe how he’d felt coming into Tuesday evening, adding that he hadn’t slept for two days, and he was totally surprised with how well he did.
Other than his overarching goal of being the voice of the people who elected him, one of his primary goals is to get baseball back into city parks and recreation. He said all the youth baseball is through the county, and he’d like to see it come back.
Bunnell said he was excited to see some new faces coming onto the council and was looking forward to learning more about their thoughts and seeing what new energy they bring. He also was glad that so many people voted in general.
“It’s great to see people out and having their voice heard through the election process; that’s very gratifying …,” he said. “As a city, we’re looking forward to moving forward. There’s a lot of activities that have started in the city, a lot of things that we have lain the foundation for right now that we can build upon, and that’s a good thing that the council has been doing is trying to lay a good foundation for us to build upon.”
Kirkpatrick said she was “just breathing” right now, but she was looking forward to bringing the new council in and focusing on having unity and transparency in the city government.
She added that when topics come before the council, they need to make sure to let the public know the basics of that issue – the what, where, why and how.
Shoemaker told Glasgow News 1 that she was in “utter disbelief” over the results. She said she had thought about running for three years, because she decided she wanted to do something rather than just complain.
Most of her experience has been in the medical field, and she said this was “totally out of my league” because of that, but she is very, very excited to start the journey and “to try to make Glasgow a wonderful place to live,” starting by focusing on things like improving sidewalks and streets.
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See this link for more Barren County election results or this link for all of GN1’s 2024 election coverage.
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