Many of the winners of Tuesday’s election gathered at Brick House Pizza after the results were in. Pictured are: (from left) councilwoman-elect Naomi Huntington, school board member-elect Liz Altieri, mayor-elect David Horton, councilwomen-elect Jessie Critterton and school board member-elect Lee Jordan Slusher. Not pictured is Lynn Burris who was re-elected to the school board.
David Horton, Naomi Huntington and Jessie Critterton won Tuesday’s election and will come into their city council positions on what seems to be the same page.
All of the candidates ran as independents in the election, but it became fairly obvious (and they all agree) that they were three of the more progressive candidates to choose from.
They also had the same message after Tuesday’s results: “its time to get to work.”
“I am thrilled, and I am humbled to represent my hometown as the next mayor,” Horton said. “I will continue to attend meetings as I have been. I respect the fact that Bruce Brown is still mayor and the current council are still in charge of making decisions.”
Horton also noted that their new terms will actually begin July 2 as July 1 is a Sunday. He said that one of the first things he would be doing is getting with the new economic development director, who has yet to be hired, to discuss his vision for the city.
Horton also reiterated his 120-day plan that he mentioned in the Radford News Journal’s election coverage. It is broken up into 30-day increments.
Within 30 days:
1. Conduct economic development planning and establish benchmarks and needed resources for the 2018-2023 period.
2. Conduct a public safety audit with our police, fire, and EMS to address any lingering concerns and areas we need to improve.
3. Begin a new marketing group to better share the story of Radford.
Within 60 days:
1. Conduct an Education Summit with our school board and other stakeholders to identify a path to meeting the needs of our schools within the next several years.
2. Explore options to improve the environment through better recycling and liter management.
Within 90 days:
1. Explore new money for investment through grants and new partners, create the Radford Area Municipal Projects group to assist in identifying and securing resources that will enhance our community assets (parks, recreation, education, the New River, etc.) to build the quality of life for residents and guests.
Within 120 days:
Review our Information Technology infrastructure with our local ISPs and explore ways to improve service and become a gigabit city within five years.
Huntington said that she isn’t worried about being in her first role as an elected official and is glad to see that so many women were elected this time around.
“It is just about having a range of ideas and perspectives from both sides,” she said. “It is also important for young girls to look up at there city council and say ‘Wow. I could do that one-day’.”
Critterton said that Tuesday’s results were a referendum of sorts, and that the town is clearly looking for a new approach to things that she believes herself and the other new faces will bring to the table.
“It is imperative that we evaluate our current property and user tax fees while strongly encouraging entrepreneurship through rezoning, small business ventures and corporate partnerships,” she wrote previously in the Radford News Journal election coverage.
Huntington said that as the campaign progressed, the winning candidates started to realize that many of their ideas were similar and that they had a chance to put those ideas into practice.
“Now that the election is over, it is important that we maintain a sense of community,” she said.
Horton echoed a similar point.
“This is a community effort. We have our ideas about how to help the city, but we represent all Radford citizens, not just the ones that voted for us,” he said. “We need to start talking about what makes Radford great and what we can do to make it even better.”
New school board members Liz Altieri and Lee Slusher are also first-time elected officials but have worked in education for many years. School board member Lynn Burris was the only incumbent re-elected Tuesday.
Radford election results
Mayoral race overall
David Horton: 1,402, 53.82 percent
Randy Marshall: 1,198, 45.99 percent
Write in: 5, 0.19 percent
Absentee votes
David Horton: 60, 52.17 percent
Randy Marshall: 55, 47.83 percent
Provisional votes
David Horton: 0
Keith Marshall: 1
East precinct
David Horton: 429, 64.90 percent
Keith Marshall: 231, 34.95 percent
Write in: 1
Central precinct
David Horton: 514, 54.97 percent
Keith Marshall: 419, 44.81 percent
Write in: 2
West precinct
David Horton: 399, 44.68 percent
Keith Marshall: 492, 55.1 percent
Write in: 2
City council overall results (two elected)
T.W. Bess: 910, 18.9 percent
Jessie Critterton: 1,070, 22.22 percent
Naomi Huntington: 1,169, 24.28 percent
Michael “Mick” Turk: 1,011, 21 percent
Jason Vaughn: 644, 13.37 percent
Write in: 11, 0.23 percent
Absentee votes
T.W. Bess: 34, 16.19 percent
Jessie Critterton: 46, 21.90 percent
Naomi Huntington: 53, 25.24 percent
Michael “Mick” Turk: 50, 23.81 percent
Jason Vaughn: 26, 12.38 percent
Write in: 1, 0.48 percent
Provisional votes
T.W. Bess: 0
Jessie Critterton: 0
Naomi Huntington: 0
Michael “Mick” Turk: 1
Jason Vaughn: 0
Write in: 0
East precinct
T.W. Bess: 152, 12.34 percent
Jessie Critterton: 345, 28 percent
Naomi Huntington: 389, 31.57 percent
Michael “Mick” Turk: 231, 18.75 percent
Jason Vaughn: 111, 9.01 percent
Write in: 4, 0.32 percent
Central precinct
T.W. Bess: 317, 18.51 percent
Jessie Critterton: 378, 22.07 percent
Naomi Huntington: 410, 23.93 percent
Michael “Mick” Turk: 380, 22.18 percent
Jason Vaughn: 225, 13.13 percent
Write in: 3, 0.18 percent
West precinct
T.W. Bess: 407, 24.53 percent
Jessie Critterton: 301, 18.14 percent
Naomi Huntington: 317, 19.11 percent
Michael “Mick” Turk: 349, 21.04 percent
Jason Vaughn: 282, 17 percent
Write in: 3, 0.18 percent
School board overall results (three elected)
Liz Altieri: 1,461, 23 percent
Lynn Burris: 1,207, 19 percent
Carl E. Mitchell: 1,084, 17.07 percent
Joseph “Jody” Ray: 845, 13.3 percent
Lee Jordan Slusher: 1,733, 27.28 percent
Write in: 22, 0.35 percent
Absentee votes
Liz Altieri: 63, 22.18 percent
Lynn Burris: 58, 20.42 percent
Carl E. Mitchell: 38, 13.38 percent
Joseph “Jody” Ray: 24, 8.45 percent
Lee Jordan Slusher: 99, 34.86 percent
Write in: 2, 0.70 percent
Provisional votes
Liz Altieri: 0
Lynn Burris: 0
Carl E. Mitchell: 1
Joseph “Jody” Ray: 0
Lee Jordan Slusher: 0
Write in: 0
East precinct
Liz Altieri: 436, 27.01 percent
Lynn Burris: 248, 15.37 percent
Carl E. Mitchell: 296, 18.34 percent
Joseph “Jody” Ray: 205, 12.64 percent
Lee Jordan Slusher: 425, 26.33 percent
Write in: 5, 0.31 percent
Central precinct
Liz Altieri: 506, 22.75 percent
Lynn Burris: 403, 18.12 percent
Carl E. Mitchell: 378, 17 percent
Joseph “Jody” Ray: 284, 12.77 percent
Lee Jordan Slusher: 645, 29 percent
Write in: 8, 0.36 percent
West precinct
Liz Altieri: 456, 20.46 percent
Lynn Burris: 498, 22.34 percent
Carl E. Mitchell: 371, 16.64 percent
Joseph “Jody” Ray: 333, 14.94 percent
Lee Jordan Slusher: 564, 25.30 percent
Write in: 7, 0.31 percent