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Bond passed — three city council seats now filled

The Williams general election is a week old.

The tally became official when the ballots were canvassed at a special city council meeting called Tuesday.

Generally just a formality, the canvass enters into public record the number of votes cast, the number verified and those found ineligible. It also lists the number of ballots each candidate received and who was elected.

The bond issue to fund water development passed with 307 votes in its favor (67 percent of those cast); 151 opposed (33 percent).

And out-going Mayor Jim Hoffman called just prior to presstime Tuesday to say the Dogtown Well is currently producing 40 percent of Williams water supply. Hopefully, additional wells in that vicinity will give our town the water supply to keep us rolling in dry years like this one. And with luck, we might hit a wet motherload to let us grow and attract business investors.

An advertisement requesting bids on drilling and production of new wells for our town is being advertised in this edition of the Williams-Grand Canyon News. Contractors have until 3 p.m. June 15 to submit bids.

Congratulations to Pat Carpenter, Dan Barnes and Bernie Hiemenz. They will take their seats June 8 along with Ken Edes who was elected mayor in the March 14 primary.

And although they lost, Paul Varga, Joyce Sullivant and Cary Price should be commended for entering the race as well as the four candidates eliminated in the primary.

After interviewing them, the News was impressed with how each sincerely wanted to serve the community. Although their visions varied, everyone running felt they had the best answer for Williams’ residents. And certainly no one can say they sought office for financial gain.

Hopefully, none will drift to the sidelines but instead consider becoming active in new endeavors.

City commissions, the Williams-Grand Canyon Chamber of Commerce and several community service organizations around town are always in need of dedicated volunteers.

Although down from the primary, Williams voter turnout last week wasn’t too shabby — 38.9 percent. There are currently 1,374 registered voters in Williams.

Williams is a small enough town that individual efforts do make a difference whether positive or negative. More people need to be involved in mapping a positive future for Williams.

One of the first tasks awaiting the new council will be appointing someone to finish out the council term vacated by Edes when he ran for mayor.

That should come up for discussion at the June 8 regularly scheduled council meeting. It will be interesting to find out who the council chooses and nice to see this seat finally filled.


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