Little change to status quo following Saturday's elections

Months of campaigning and hard work have finally concluded following elections this past Saturday.

The annual May uniform elections concluded on Saturday, May 7, as candidates sought positions on local school boards, city councils and a local water district.

The City of Bridge City has three races on the ballot this spring and voter turnout was very steady with 106 ballots submitted on Monday and 71 ballots submitted on Tuesday for a two-day total of 177 ballots.

Mayor Kirk Roccaforte has reached his term limit and cannot seek the office of Mayor again this year. However, he opted to run for the open position of Place 2 currently held by Mike Reed, who also reached his term limit for office.

Roccaforte defeated challenger Carl Harbert for the Place 2 seat by a vote count of 707 votes to 196 votes.

In the race for Place 4, incumbent Eric Andrus was successful in his bid for re-election as he defeated opponent Phillip Todora Jr., 554 votes 320 votes.

A heavily contested race for Place 6 had incumbent Danny Cole facing off against former councilmembers Lucy Fields and Kevin Mott. It was Fields who won the seat with 329 votes, while Mott had 284 votes and Cole had 281 votes.

David Rutledge, currently the Place 1 councilman, opted to run for the open Mayor's seat this election and was unopposed. He received 836 votes.

"I'm so excited to be able to work with city council once again," Fields said following the election. "I'm looking forward to getting back to work and helping the citizens resolve any problems or concerns they have."

In the Bridge City Independent School District election, there were three races for positions on the Bridge City ISD Board of Trustees which generated heavy turnout at the polls during early voting and on Saturday.

Rebecca Rutledge, the Place 3 incumbent, defeated opponent Bryan Gremillion, 967 votes to 517 to win re-election, as did Thad Hill, the Place 4 incumbent, who defeated challenger Bryant Champagne 989 to 487, and, in Place 5, incumbent Jerry McInnis won re-election over candidate Brandy Slaughter, 845 votes to 642 votes.

The West Orange-Cove Consolidated Independent School District had three at-large positions available for its Board of Trustees this year, as incumbent Linda Platt-Bryant was opposed by four other candidates, including former WO-C CISD Trustees Ricky Jacobs and Tony Dallas, and new candidates Demetrius Hunter and Bonnie Moses.

The winning candidates were Dallas with 560 votes, Platt-Bryant with 522 votes and Hunter, with 451. Jacobs received 385 votes and Moses received 254 votes.

"I'm proud to be representing the Mustangs family and kids again," said Tony Dallas. "I just want to thank all of the people who have supported me in this election."

The City of Orange had only one contested race on the ballot as District 4 incumbent Mary McKenna defeated former councilperson Annette Pernell, 186 votes to 136.

Incumbents Dr. Wayne Guidry, District 2, and Bill Mello, Place 5, were unopposed this election.

The Orange County Water Control and Improvement District No. 2, also commonly referred to as the West Orange Water District, had its first election in several years. Two at-large positions were available on the district's Board of Directors.

Incumbents Jerry Foreman and Linda Primeaux are seeking re-election and are opposed by new candidate, Grayling Mouton. Both incumbents were successful in their bids for re-election as Primeaux received 105 votes and Foreman had 84 votes. Mouton received a total of 24 votes in Saturday's election.