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UPDATE MARCH 15: We have updated the numbers below to reflect the final count. The Town Clerk was to issue the official results today, Thursday, March 15 at 10 AM.
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UPDATE MARCH 15: Read the Thursday, March 15, 2012 report in the Arizona Daily Star.
Read the Thursday, March 15, 2012 Tucson Weekly Report
Read the Thrsday, March 15, 2012 Explorer Report.
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The count from the 2012 Town Council Primary is posted on the Pima County web site. Click here to view the results. There were 9,356 votes counted. The results show that Brendan Burns, Bill Garner, and Mike Zinkin earned sufficient votes in excess of the required number of 4,679 (votes counted divided by 2, plus 1) to be elected to Council at this time. In other words, there will be no General Election:
Garner 5,576
Burns 5,067
Zinkin 4,975
Not making the cut, based on these posted results were:
Solomon 4,285
Napier 3,521
Nacaroti 2,147
Based on this result, which should be the final result, the candidates that were elected earned 61% of the votes cast.
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20 comments:
I think the voters of Oro Valley need to be acknowledged for paying attention in this critical election.
Congrats to Bill, Brendan & Mike on their (unofficial) victory in the primary, making a runoff election in May unnecessary.
Hopefully, in two more years, the citizens will once again step up and do the right thing----which is electing others who put the people of Oro Valley first.
Lastly, congrats and thanks to our friend Richard, "The Zeeman" who did a yeoman job in informing the thousands of the blog readers as to why this town needed to elect Bill, Brendan & Mike.
Yes, kudos to Richard for keeping OV so well informed! The voters were able to make intelligent choices thanks to your efforts. Clearly, we are not as dumb as some elitist TC members think we are. They do NOT "know better" than us & we cannot be bought by signs, postcards or developers. Congrats to the new team who will keep OV a great town to live in!
L.O.V.E.
Well done Oro Valley voters!
As soon as the vote is official, I would ask our newly elected officials to meet us at Noble Hops very soon to celebrate.
The voters were loud and clear.
The existing leadership by the Gang of 5 is now 4.
Let this be the drum beat for preparing for 2014.
When can I expect a fair and balanced management study of the police department?
5-2/4-3 Same positive results.
Ditto on what Faveaunts said.
the electorate have spoken, i hope the current council is listening. the winds of change are blowing, i am excited about our future. thanks to richard, art ( let's not forget all his efforts on this BLOG) and countless others
Chuck---Thank you for the recognition.
I was extremely confident that Bill, Mike & Brendan would win the election with enough votes to negate a (costly) runoff in May.
Why was I so confident?
Because I knew that the vast majority of our blog readers are voters, that know enough, and care enough to vote.
These readers were well aware which three candidates were truly concerned with the well being of the people of Oro Valley.
I also knew that these voters were smart enough to not let 5' yellow signs, glitzy postcards, 1/2 page newspaper ads and thousands of dollars buy an election.
We had an election "bought" 2 years ago, but wouldn't get snookered again.
We can now look forward to the 2014 election when four "occupied council seats" will hopefully have new occupants.
Gotta say, I'm kind of surprised at the decisive nature of this result. Solomon came very, very close, which to me indicates an embedded polarity in TOV that may not bode well for our three representatives. Too bad Barry was up this cycle as well, wish it had been someone else (other than Bill.) Anyway, I echo Nombe; lets get that piece of business taken care of ASAP, as that is probably the one most contentious issue that needs to be addressed, hopefully with an outcome that results in the study being executed....
As Thinker says, whether the votes are 5-2 or 4-3, the results will be the same...not positive as he states...but the same. Now, instead of a Gang of 5, we will simply have a Gang of 4.
However, if the voters thought that the results of all the 5-2 votes of The Gang were so "positive" as Thinker asserts, then they wouldn't have taken the first opportunity they had to remove one of the gang members.
So although the votes will probably still be in The Gang's favor for the next two years, we can still count on two things:
(1) The Gang of 4 will be on the receiving end of a lot of contested debate. The will have to work a lot harder to plead their case. The citizens will be watching.
(2) If they continue with their record of raising taxes, refusing to do a police dept. study, and representing business owners and developers while ignoring the wishes of the citizens, they will meet the same fate in 2014 as Solomon met in 2012.
Looking forward to it.
No General Election! The boys are saving taxpayers money already:))))
I caution the readers of this blog to not read too much into the election results. Steve S. lost because he was appointed and really was a bad choice. He also ran a terrible campaign and made the same mistake all candidates with solid financial baking make. He actually thought money could overcome his ineptness. I do not believe a study of the Police dept. was an issue to the general public. I do believe Mr. Zinkin won on name recognition and the fact that some still remember how he lost the last election. I think that left a bad taste in the mouths of the voters and they may have voted to right a wrong. Whatever the case may be, to be effective the new gang of three need to learn that to govern from the minority they have to offer the public something more than opposition and chest pounding for a police study. They also must realize that they now represent all of Oro Valley and not just the people who voted for them. They must do what is best for the towns, which actually may be in conflict with the vast opinions of the readers of this blog. The view changes from the Dias.
We inadvertently ommitted the following comment from OV Thinker:
"Nombe.....There is a fair and balanced management study of the police department every year at budget time and every two years in the election. The people of Oro Valley are very happy with the RESULTS of the PD.
The comments about the police budget being 50% of the overall budget just indicate how uninformed the folks really are.
Over the next two years you are going to see some major changes in the way information is distributed in this community.
The misinformation campaign is going to be illuminated and challenged.
Never again will an election be won based of such pack of lies."
Thinker:
These are the FACTS:
The Police budget is 46% of the towns OPERATING Budget. That is the fund over which the town has most control.
The other town funds are for the water department's budget and the capital projects budgets. These have nothing to do with the day-to-day operations of the town.
We back our work with fact. Plain and simple.
We welcome the open sharing of information on the part of the town.
Please, bring it on!
That is why we did not want the town to move to summary minutes for meetings. I reduces the amount of information.
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Lance L,
Thanks for joining the conversation:
"Whatever the case may be, to be effective the new gang of three need to learn that to govern from the minority they have to offer the public something more than opposition and chest pounding for a police study. They also must realize that they now represent all of Oro Valley and not just the people who voted for them. They must do what is best for the towns, which actually may be in conflict with the vast opinions of the readers of this blog. The view changes from the Dias."
Your comment made me smile, Lance.
For two years, the Gang of Five has governed while ignoring the input of Bill Garner and Barry Gillaspie. They were bullied, yelled at and lectured to.
To date, Mayor Hiremath, Mary Snider, Joe Hornat, Lou Waters, and Steve Solomon have governed as if only they knew what was right. They marginalized Bill and Barry.
This will be no more.
I will guarantee you that Mike, Bill and Brendan will not behave in this manner. The will represent all of the people of Oro Valley. What they will not do is represent the special interests.
They may make decisions that some on this blog may or may not like. But they will make good decisions, decisions that move Oro Valley forward.
You may not know it yet, but Bill, Brendan and Mike are genuine. They will improve the quality of our town council.
The larger question is: Will the remaining four council members have the wisdom and the grace to work together with all the members of the Council or will it be "Our Way Or The Highway?"
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March 15, 2012 9:51 PM
Richard - Glad I could make you smile
I truly hope the newly elected council members and Mr. Garner will embrace their position and realize the potential of an apparent narrowly split council offers. If done correctly the minority can easily become the majority. Politicians running for re-election in two years can flip their positions and loyalties to preserve their futures.
To be effective the "Gang of Three" need to develop a plan for OV that will move the Town forward and not dwell on the past. The public wants results not empty statements. One only needs to study the failed politics of Tucson and do the opposite. Move forward, don't be afraid be bold and always do what is best for OV.
OVOT,
You say 4-3 same "positive" results, and over the next two years you are going to see some major changes in the way information is distributed in this community.
How do you know this? Have 4 Council members already told you this?
Are you saying that no one on the Council will consider agenda items as an individual?
We, who care for Oro Valley, want cooperation, respect, and civility between all Council members and the citizens of Oro Valley. We welcome an open dialogue and distribution of information to every citizen in Oro Valley.
I can only hope your thoughts about 4-3 are wrong.
Thinker claimed that this blog was a failure because the candidates it endorsed in 2010 were not elected.
He also stated that he would "work hard" to ensure that Bill Garner was not re-elected in 2012.
And now in 2012, all 3 candidates endorsed by this blog WERE elected. Bill Garner was re-elected and in fact he received the most votes of all the candidates and received almost the same amount of votes as Napier and Narcaroti combined.
So, Thinker, who's the failure now?
I'd also like to point out that the total votes for the 3 candidates endorsed by this blog came to 15,618 while the total votes for the candidates endorsed by the current council came to 9953.
That's a difference of 5,665 votes.
Kind of makes Hiremath's 30-vote win in 2010 look a little pathetic by comparison, doesn't it?
We need to thank Don Cox (a.k.a., OV Objective Thinker) for his incisive and penetrating comment to Nombe on the Town Budget. Don’s expertise on any subject known to mankind is overwhelming! Don’s continuing comment capability and quality shows clarity and depth!
OVOT Comment to Nombe: "Nombe.....There is a fair and balanced management study of the police department every year at budget time and every two years in the election. The people of Oro Valley are very happy with the RESULTS of the PD.
Don:
Fact – There is a law mandating that a town budget must be published every year regardless of whether an election is scheduled or not. There is no “fair and balanced” management study of the PD or any other department each year.
Budget: An estimate of costs, revenues, and resources over a specified period, reflecting a reading of future financial conditions and goals. Setting a budget is not a management study.
What is a “Balanced Budget”? A balanced budget simply means that the town staff has identified the revenue that is available and matched it to the expenditures that the department managers have been using or feel is necessary. The primary missing element is any explanation or cost justification by department managers for these expenditures.
Traditional Incremental Budgeting
From the founding of Oro valley up to the appointment of Stacy Lemos, Finance Director, Oro Valley had used incremental budgeting, where departmental managers would list increases or decreases over the previous year budget and what has been already spent is automatically sanctioned. The detailed activities of each department are never explained or cost justified.
Program Budgeting
Stacy Lemos, Finance Director, introduced a program budgeting process that was primarily formula driven based on population figures or other mathematical multipliers.
The program budget allocates money, focusing on major program areas to be carried out. There is no identification of the detailed activities of a department, program or project with their explanation or cost justification.
There is a way a budget could be partially used as a management study. It is called zero-based budgeting.
Zero-based budgeting
Zero-based budgeting is a technique of planning and decision-making which reverses the working process of traditional or program budgeting.
By contrast, in zero-based budgeting, every department function is reviewed comprehensively and all expenditures must be approved from scratch (zero), rather than only increases or decreases.
Usually an independent management study of all departments precedes zero-based budgeting so that a standard base-line can be established by a neutral party to use as evaluation criteria for forecasting ongoing explanations or cost justifications.
Also Don: Please identify the lies specifically from your rash statement:
“Never again will an election be won based of such pack of lies."
John Musolf
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