|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Incumbent Elizabeth Lewis and newcomer Diana Hawkins-Manuelian maintained their leads for two open seats on the Atherton City Council. Incumbent Cary Wiest is trailing behind the two.
With almost 68% of votes counted, Lewis is leading with 36.4% of the vote. Hawkins-Manuelian has 26.4%, while Wiest has 22.3% and newcomer Christine David has 15.1%, according to semi-official results posted by the San Mateo County Elections Office on Thursday afternoon. These results include all ballots except for provisional ballots and a portion of vote-by-mail ballots.
“I am humbled and honored to have the opportunity to serve the residents of our wonderful town of Atherton for four more years,” said Lewis in a prepared statement Wednesday morning. “I promise to do my best to listen to our residents, learn from their experiences and work to make policies that will benefit all of Atherton. I would like to congratulate each of the other candidates for running positive and energetic campaigns and look forward to working with them all in the future on committees and boards.”
Hawkins-Manuelian said in a Wednesday email since not all the votes are in it may be too early to assume she has won.
“I am humbled and honored to see the votes so far,” she said. “I am ready to roll up my sleeves if I do win.”
This race marks the first time in six years there has been a contested election in town.
Mayor Rick DeGolia made waves when he endorsed Hawkins-Manuelian over Wiest because she opposes the town detaching from the Menlo Park Fire Protection District, while claiming that Wiest is in favor of it. Wiest denies he has ever supported separation from the fire district.
Talks of separation were spurred by a 2016 fire services study, which showed a disparity between the fixed percentage of property tax revenues from Atherton that fund the fire district and how much it actually costs the district to provide emergency response services to the town.
Lewis was elected to the council in November 2008, while Wiest was elected to the council in 2012. David and Hawkins-Manuelian are both longtime Atherton residents.
The county will update the vote count at 4:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 9.
