Cottonwood voters reelected a Yavapai College English professor and gave an Old Town engineering draftsman his first opportunity to serve in public office.
With 100 percent of the votes counted, unofficial tallies show Terence Pratt and Jesse Dowling were each elected to serve four-year terms.
Pratt won the largest share of the vote with 28.2 percent, or 802 ballots cast in his favor. Dowling followed with 703 votes, or 24.7 percent, according to the Yavapai County Elections Department.
Newcomer Mary Eichman fell just five votes short of defeating Dowling in the closest of the Tuesday, May 17, city council races. She received 699 votes, or 24.5 percent of the vote.
About 6,700 of the city’s 17,000 registered voters participated in the runoff election, a turnout of nearly 40 percent.
None of the candidates could be reached for comment as of press time.
Voters also approved one ballot issue, known as the franchise question, overwhelmingly voting in favor of a deal that allows Arizona Public Service to continue supplying city residents with electricity.
As a result of the 1,028 to 219 vote, APS will pay the same percentage of revenue to Cottonwood it has for 25 years.
Cottonwood City Council deemed the agreement “beneficial” and voted unanimously at a meeting Feb. 1 to submit it to voters.
Under the agreement, APS will pay the city 2 percent of gross revenue collected from Cottonwood electricity users. It is the same percentage it has paid since 1986. If the agreement had failed, APS would have continued to provide electricity to users, but would not pay a percentage of gross revenue to the city.
Results are not official until certified by the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors in June.
