Patel challenges Rogers for mayor

The Olney City Council race drew eight candidates for two open seats and a challenger for Mayor Rue Rogers, City Secretary Tammy Hourigan said. A third Council seat, vacated earlier this month by Brad Simmons, also will be filled on May 4 in a special- called election that will appear on the same ballot as the other City races but in a separate location on the ballot, Ms. Hourigan said.

Candidates must file separately for that seat after the Council calls the special election at its Feb. 26 meeting, and before the filing deadline on Monday, March 25 at 5 p.m., she said.

Mayor Rue Rogers, the only incumbent in the race, faces a challenge from A.D. Patel, owner of The Pipeliner Inn.

The eight candidates who filed for the two open Council seats are: Mona Bernhardt, a licensed clinical social worker supervisor. Ms. Bernhardt graduated from Olney High School and attended Texas A&M University for her undergraduate degree, and the University of Texas at Austin for her master’s of science in social work. She returned to Olney in 2022 to be closer to her father, former Olney Mayor Herb Bernhardt (1984-1988), and quickly became involved in a local effort to expand mental health services in Young County.

Ronnie Cowart, who works at Lunn Funeral Home and graduated from Olney High School.

Kathy Schrader Muncie who moved to Olney with her daughters in 2002. Her daughters graduated from Olney High School and have gone on to have successful careers. She has two granddaughters.

Melissa Ann Scott; Ruben Torres; Jacqueline Griffith Voyles, vice president of Olney Auto Tire & Truck Service LLC. Ms. Voyles graduated from high school in Breckenridge, Texas, and previously worked as an accounting office manager at Morris R. Greenhaw Oil & Gas, according to her LinkedIn profile; Terri Wipperman, retired City billing clerk and former City Councilmember. Mrs. Wipperman sat on the City Council from 2017 until she voluntarily left the Council in 2022. She was born and raised in Olney, and has deep experience at City Hall, first as a part-time municipal court clerk and as a billing clerk for the Public Works Department for 15 years.

The resignations of Mr. Simmons, who moved outside the City limits, and Mayor Pro Tem Tom Parker, who left the Council to serve as the executive director of the Olney Economic Development Corporation, left two open seats on the Council. Councilmember Tommy Kimbro did not file for re-election, leaving a third seat open. Two of the departing Councilmembers worked at Tower Extrusion, leaving Mayor Rogers and Councilmember Harrison Wellman as the two remaining Tower employees.