Incumbents win big in May 4 ballot

The results are in for both the Dripping Springs City Council race, and the Dripping Springs ISD race.

For city council, all three incumbents held on to their seats-- Taline Manassian for Place 1, Bill Foulds for Place 3, and Wm Travis Crow for Place 5.  

In the most hotly contested race for Place 5, Crow won 50% of the ballot (148 votes), with challengers Geoffrey Tahuahua coming in at 36% of the ballot (107 votes), and Steve Randall coming in at 14% of the ballot (41 votes). During the campaign, Crow had filed a lawsuit against Tahuahua essentially questioning Tahuahua’s residency qualification to run for city council.

In the Place 1 race, Manassian’s opponent Anthony Aristar dropped out of the race immediately after filing (and placing his name on the ballot), yet still garnered 42 votes against Manassian’s 234 votes.

For Place 3, Bill Foulds ran unopposed.

In the DSISD School Board race, the winners for the two seats were the incumbent Marisa Grijalva with 1,250 votes, and newcomer Joanna Day with 1,225 votes.  Challenger Rob Satterfield lost with 1,067 votes, and challenger Kara Mayfield lost with 703 votes. DSISD trustees do not represent “places,” rather the top two vote-getters get elected.

Following her re-election to city council, Manassian issued a statement to Century News, “To start, I am beyond grateful to have the opportunity to continue to work for this community,” Manassian said. “I appreciate every person who came out to vote, every person who helped put on the election, and every person who offered support and encouragement throughout this election season. I am especially grateful to our staff, our mayor and current council, and the volunteers who make up our boards, commissions and committees, as they have, for the last two years, patiently answered my questions and helped equip me to do this work. It's because they helped me so much during my first term that I feel prepared to enter my second. But the bigger picture right now is that we have a great deal of work to do. Our community is in the thick of dealing with the recent flooding. Two families are hurting because they lost a loved one, one in the flooding and one on our roadways very recently. More than anything, my attention - and I believe our attention as a city - is on addressing these issues and helping our community move forward. I am proud to see how this community is rallying around one another and lending hands and resources where they are available. There is so much goodness in this place. I want to do all I can to help us stay in that good spirit as we move forward and as we grow.”

Wm Travis Crow and Bill Foulds also issued comments to the Century News.

“I want to Thank everyone that voted this election cycle,” Bill Foulds said, “I will continue to represent the community in a manner that I hope each you appreciates. I am excited to continue working with Taline and Travis and my hope is the other candidates will continue to be engaged in helping our city. We need everyone's help. It's difficult to enjoy this victory in light of the devastation that is impacting so many members of the community. I have spoken with the Mayor and we will be evaluating how to reduce the chances of something like this in the future.”

Wm Travis Crow’s statement was, “I would like to thank my wife and children for their unconditional support, and for allowing me to serve on the council,” Crow said. “I would also like to thank for the people who supported me during the campaign and who expressed faith in me, and all the people who voted in this election and participated in the process. As we all know, voting is a vital step in participating in our government, and forwarding our ideals. Recently we have seen a divided country, a divided state, and I hope that we don’t find ourselves in a divided community. All of us in city council, and our mayor, should have the same goal of bringing our community together—together in working for common goals that make Dripping Springs a better place to live. There will be bumps on the road, for sure, but I have confidence that we will overcome them and work together. Thank you for allowing me to serve and represent you as a city council member.”