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2 Voters would have a choice of candidates in most of the seats up for grabs for May 8 elections to the Eanes school board and cities of Rollingwood and West Lake Hills city councils (see stories on front page and page 3). The Picayune staff will do its best to help readers make the best decision in each of the contested races by running question-and-answer profiles in successive weeks beginning with our March 25 issue.
We will begin on that date with Eanes school board candidates for Place 5, interim appointee James Kallison and challenger Sharman Reed; and Place 6 incumbent Mike Monnig and challenger Dr. Colleen Jones. Place 7 incumbent Ellen Balthazar is unopposed for re-election.
Local mayoral races will likely be cancelled, after only incumbent Mayor Dave Claunch filed to run in West Lake Hills, and Alderman Bill Hamilton was the lone candidate for that race in Rollingwood.
But both City Councils have contested races. West Lake Hills Place 2 incumbent Councilman Andrew Schwartz will face former council member Katherine Loayza, and former council member Jane Noble will face Jean Goehring for the open Place 4. In the at-large Rollingwood City Council election in which the top two vote-getters win, incumbent Alderwoman Shanthi Jayakumar, Sara Hutson, Kelli Carlton and Barry Bone will vie for two seats up for grabs.
We will feature the Rollingwood election in the April 1 issue and the West Lake Hills election in the April 8 issue.
As stated in a previous editorial, contested races ensure for lively debate and can bring important issues to the forefront that might otherwise not be explored until a new council or school board member casts a deciding vote on an issue that could have significant consequences. By running the profiles well in advance of the election date, there will be plenty of opportunities for residents to ask follow-up questions relating to the replies. We’d like to think that area homeowners associations and clubs will also help by sponsoring candidate forums, because the best way to make a decision is in person.
Our efforts should be only part of the equation in making a decision that could have long-term consequences on our lives, but we feel certain our profiles will be an invaluable ingredient in the election process.
Editor:
Please do us a favor…you constantly refer to Colleen Jones as Dr. Colleen Jones. Fair enough, she has a Ph.D.
But so does Dr. James Kalison, her opponent. Indeed, it is the VERY SAME degree from UT that Colleen earned.
Why is it you never refer to Dr. Kalison but always refer to Dr. Jones?
In the future, please give Dr. Kalison the same measure of respect you give to Colleen Jones.
Lawyerdad, Colleen Jones is running against Mike Monnig. Last I checked, Mr. Monnig does not have a PhD in education. Mr. Monnig does, however, have a deep knowledge of CPR.
Sharman Reed is running against Dr. Kallison. And yes, it would be a good thing to recognize his PhD, as well.