Three open seats on the Camp Verde Town Council were up for grabs this primary election, held Aug. 28. Councilwoman Robin Whatley ran for re-election, while Council members Jackie Baker and Brad Gordon retired from their posts.
Five candidates ran for the three open seats: Former judge Joe Butner, former council members Bruce George and Carol German, former police officer Bill LeBeau and Whatley, defending her seat.
While the results remain tentative and not certified by the Camp Verde Town Clerk’s office, as of press time, Butner, LeBeau and Whatley have secured the three seats.
“First of all, I’d like to thank all of the people that voted for me,” Butner said. He received 1,478 votes, or 24.5 percent of the 6,032 votes cast. “I appreciate it very much and view it as a great responsibility to represent them honorably on the Camp Verde Town Council. As they say, now the work really begins.”
Butner was the top votegetter of the five candidates, and expressed mild surprise.
“Obviously my message must have connected with the voters, and they were looking at many of the issues the same way I viewed them,” he said.
LeBeau, who despite frequent attendance of Camp Verde Town Council meetings is somewhat of an outsider to politics, expressed similar surprise at coming in second place, with 1,200 votes, or 19.89 percent of the total votes cast.
“I’m honestly humbled,” he said. “I didn’t realize that many people had heard of me and I’m humbled by their trust. I hope to be able to live up to that and do a good job along with the things I said during the campaign about fiscal responsibility and transparency. Those are the things I’m going to look at initially and I’m going to learn as I go.”
Whatley was the third place vote-getter with 1,164 votes, or 19.30 percent.
“I sincerely appreciate the citizens of Camp Verde that have trusted me to serve on the council,” Whatley wrote in an email. “Over the next four years, I will continue to work to move Camp Verde forward while protecting our unique history. One priority of mine is building the Camp Verde Sports Complex. The town manager, finance director and council have carefully overseen the town’s budgets, which have made the Sports Complex possible. By the end of this term, I expect to see the youth of Camp Verde playing on the ball fields and all of our citizens utilizing the park.”
All three candidates passed the threshold required to avoid a runoff election, meaning they have won outright without the need of a second round in the Tuesday, Nov. 6, general election. In the case of Camp Verde, that threshold is calculated as the total number of votes divided by the number of available seats — three — then divided by two and round up, or in this case, 1,006 votes. Since all three top vote-getters received more than that, the town will not hold a runoff.
During the election, both Butner and LeBeau positioned themselves as critics of many recent decisions made by the Town Council, while Whatley frequently defended them. Butner and LeBeau will join council in late November, after the general election. Bruce George received 1,115 votes, or 18.48 percent, while Carol German received 1,056 votes, or 17.51 percent.
Jon Hecht can be reached at 634-8551, or email jhecht@larsonnewspapers.com
Correction: The printed version of this article falsely stated that Buck Buchanan was retiring from his seat on the Camp Verde Town Council, instead of Jackie Baker.
