CLEARLAKE — Chuck Leonard and Roy Simons became the Clearlake City Council”s newest members on Tuesday.
In the race for two council seats vacated by Bob Malley and Peggy Smith, Leonard gained the most votes 1,413 and 41.1 percent of the vote, followed by Simons with 1,265 votes and 36.8 percent, while Aqeela El Amin Bakheit took 753 votes and 21.9 percent.
The three candidates, accompanied by friends and supporters, gathered at City Hall to watch as election results were updated on the Registrar of Voters Web site.
Even before he knew the results, Simons said he would be content with whatever result he got.
“Win, lose or draw,” Simons said, he was glad it was finally over. “If I win I”m walking out of here with a smile. If I lose, I”m walking out of here with a smile.”
The final poll numbers closely followed the percentages each candidate received when it came to absentee ballots. Leonard earned 667 absentees (42.3 percent), Simons had 595 (38.8 percent) and Bakheit had 313 (19.9 percent).
In response to questions from visitors, Leonard claimed he felt fine as the evening progressed. His wife, Vicki, noted he had been unusually calm all day.
Bakheit said she would look for other opportunities for community involvement if she didn”t get a council seat this time around.
“I”m here to stay despite election results and I”ll be happy for anyone who wins and I will support the council as a whole,” she said. “I welcome other opportunities to help the community.”
Clearlake City Hall was open to the public for election result monitoring until approximately 11 p.m. with the technical assistance of PEG Channel/TV8 Station Manager Jack Barker.
“We wanted the community to know what”s going on so we opened up City Hall and asked Jack to be here,” said Clearlake City Administrator Kathy Kivley. “We couldn”t have done it without him.”
Other local results concerning the City of Clearlake showed Measure Z the one-half cent general sales tax for road maintenance failing at 61.7 percent.
Write-in candidate for City Clerk, Melissa Swanson, showed 100 percent approval with 96 votes.
Contact Denise Rockenstein at drockenstein@clearlakeobserver.com.
