BROOKINGS Incumbents Holly Tilton Byrne and Bonny Specker will be returning to the Brookings City Council after winning endorsements from voters in Tuesdays election.
In a three-person race for two open seats Al Austreim was the third of that triumvirate Tilton Byrne gained the most votes with 1,373 while Specker gathered 1,357. Austreim wasnt that far behind, either, with 1,241 votes. There were a total of 4,315 votes.
Im so appreciative to members of our community who have put their faith in me to serve another term, Tilton Byrne said. Its a real honor to be able to serve the people of Brookings and just be part of this amazing community, and Im just so thankful.
Shes looking forward to the years ahead on the City Council, and the successes and challenges that undoubtably await.
Just continuing some of the great work that were doing right now. (Im) looking forward to seeing the (Brookings) Marketplace get some work done seeing that get completed, Tilton Byrne said. Working through some of the stuff thats happening around economic development and continuing to address some of the things like affordable housing, child care and just continuing to listen to the people of Brookings.
Specker, too, was feeling good about her win Tuesday night.
(Im) excited to be able to keep working with this council and the community and the city staff, she said. To move Brookings ahead continuing to get a lot done. I think weve done a lot the last couple years and theres a lot of exciting things happening.
The other issue on the ballot centered on whether or not to update the Brookings City Charter, which is the citys equivalent to the U.S. Constitution. The changes were primarily housekeeping in nature, and it showed in the results, with 1,548 people voting for the changes, while 610 people voted against the changes.
Regarding overall voter turnout, it was estimated at 15%, according to Brookings County Finance Specialist Jenna Baker. She also provided some other preliminary numbers linked to the election, including:
- 1,138 people voted early or absentee
- 1,564 voted on Tuesday
- Altogether, there were 2,702 total voters
Contact Mondell Keck at [email protected].
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