Published: May 10, 2008 11:10 pm            

Beall wins council seat; all seven amendments pass.

By Kelly Young

kyoung@jacksonvilleprogress.com

By securing 71.5 percent of the vote Saturday, Rob Beall defeated opponents Phyllis Wilburn and James Hugghins to become the District 4 representative on the Jacksonville City Council. Beall received 133 of the 186 votes cast by residents of the district, while Wilburn earned 50 votes and Hugghins finished a distant third with a tally of 3 votes.

“I appreciate the support of the citizens of District 4. I truly hope to do a good job for them, and I’m ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work,” Beall said.

Owner and operator of three East Texas Diary Queen restaurants, Beall has lived in Jacksonville for nearly his entire life. He is also a director of the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce and was president of the Cherokee County United Fund last year.

“I have worked for companies and I have run businesses. Let’s face it, the city of Jacksonville is a large business. Serving on the City Council will allow me to use my abilities to work with and through others to be effective for our citizens,” Beall said. “The experience I have gained while starting up and running my own company taught me that it takes a vision, planning, execution, leadership, a lot of hard work and mostly importantly team building to get the job done.”

Wilburn was the first woman ever elected to serve on the Jacksonville City Council.

“I want to thank everybody who has supported me for the last two years. I wish Rob Beall the best of luck on the council,” she said. “I’m very glad that he showed the interest to run for city council — I think that lets people know that there are still some people interested in doing good work for Jacksonville.”

When asked if she would seek public office again in the future, she responded, “Mayor Wilburn sounds pretty good to me.”

At final count, 186 residents of District 4 voted to elect their representation, with 80 choosing to vote early and 108 casting their ballots on election day. While waiting for the final results, Beall and Wilburn joked that the loser would have to go around and pick up the winner’s political signs.

Jeff Smith, who ran unopposed to keep his seat on the council as representative for District 3, received 27 votes. Beall and Smith will be sworn in during the June City Council meeting.

Also on the city’s ballot were seven proposed amendments to the city’s charter. All seven of the propositions passed; most by a wide margin. Listed below are the results for each amendment:

• Proposition 1 — 298 for, 86 against;

• Proposition 2 — 234 for, 153 against;

• Proposition 3 — 303 for, 81 against;

• Proposition 4 — 348 for, 22 against;

• Proposition 5 — 294 for, 76 against;

• Proposition 6 — 341 for, 25 against; and

• Proposition 7 — 347 for, 20 against.

Amendments of note include Proposition 2 which increased the number of two-year terms the mayor can serve from two to three; Proposition 4 which added new age and residency requirements for citizens running for office; and Proposition 5 which allows the City Council to make appointments to the council in order to fill a vacancy.

Of the 394 Jacksonville citizens who voted on the amendments, 259 did so on Saturday and 135 did so in early voting. Jacksonville has not amended its charter since 2001.

        

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