2019/04/08 - Mayor's Column: Last Week's Election
“An Open Door to O’Fallon”
A Weekly Note from Mayor Herb Roach
Last week’s election was important for the City of O’Fallon in many ways.
With all the candidates running for City Council, it may have been the largest number of individuals to step forward to serve in a leadership role for our city government. I applaud every one of them who ran a good race for all our local positions. This includes the City of O’Fallon and our local school districts.
After the votes were counted, the results showed that this will be a major transition in the makeup of your City Council with seven individuals being elected to the Council for the first time. This may be the largest collection of first-time election winners in the City’s history. It is great to see new residents step up in their community.
As for those individuals that will be stepping down from the City Council, I can only say THANK YOU for their splendid service. Their experience and knowledge will be missed. It is a loss of over 40 years of combined experience and leadership. Here is a list of those individuals that will soon be stepping down, and which we all owe a word of gratitude: David Cozad, John Distler, John Drolet, Ned Drolet, and Bob Kueker.
This transition means new energy and new ideas will soon be coming. The newly elected officials will be working hard to catch up with everything going on. O’Fallon is a progressive community that never stops moving. I am confident that the newly elected will have no problem catching up to the moving train…no pun intended.
This transition means that we now have seven newly elected Council Members that will bring new incite and fresh ideas to our City Leadership. It means that these individuals have stepped up and are willing to make the time and commitment necessary to help lead our city forward into the coming years. They are:
- Ward 1: Dennis Muyleart
- Ward 2: Jessica Lotz
- Ward 3: Kevin Hagarty (his third term)
- Ward 4: Todd Roach
- Ward 5: Gwendolyn Randolph (four-year term) & Chris Monroe (two-year term)
- Ward 6: Tom Vorce
- Ward 7: Nathan Parchman
One thing that I noticed about this election was that the candidates all conducted themselves in a professional manner. If you have read their material or watched the candidate forums, they all spoke about who they were, what they would bring to the council, and what their vision was for the City of O’Fallon. None of them were negative toward the other candidates. This is a breath of fresh air to what we have been accustomed to in recent elections across the country.
The community appreciates all of our candidates for their desire to serve, positive approach, and the time and effort they spent on the campaign trail. O’Fallon is in good hands!
As residents of O’Fallon, you should always be able to reach out to your elected officials and ask questions about what is happening in O’Fallon. Having open communications is important to me and something I care very deeply about. Thank you for reading, and please remember, my door is always open!