May 6 election results

Voters in the May 6 election returned incumbents in the Olney City Council and Olney Independent School District Board of Trustees to their seats and approved a ballot measure that will broaden the way the City spends economic development funds.

Residents who lived inside City limits voted on three City Council positions, two school board seats, and Proposition A.

Four candidates ran for the three atlarge City Council spots, including incumbents Brad Simmons, Chuck Stennett, and Harrison Wellman, as well as challenger and former City Councilmember Terri Wipperman. The top three vote-getters were Mr. Simmons, with 32.5 percent, Mr. Stennett, with 28 percent, and Mr. Wellman, with 24 percent, according to unofficial results from Young County Election Supervisor Kaitlyn Mosely. Mrs. Wipperman trailed with 15 percent, the results showed.

In the OISD Trustee races, incumbent Kyle Hinson commanded 100 percent of the vote for Place 6 with no opponent, and incumbent Craig Mahler clinched a three-way race over Colson Ballard and A.J. Johnson with 66.7 percent of the vote, the results showed.

Voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition A by a margin of 87 percent to 12.7 percent, the results showed. The Election Commission recorded turnout as follows: 173 voters on Prop. A, 191 voted in the OISD Place 6 race, 195 voted in the OISD Place 7 race, and 437 voted in the City Council race.

Proposition A will change the corporate designation of the Olney Industrial Development Corporation to broaden the group’s mission, according to outgoing OIDC Director Wiley J. Hughey. The change from a Type A to a Type B corporation will allow the group to spend the halfcent city tax for economic development on “quality of life” such as the municipal swimming pool, new housing, and retail projects in the community.