Petty Leads; Runoff Likely in Ward 4

— Voters favored incumbent Matthew Petty to fill a Ward 2 seat on the City Council and will likely return to the polls in three weeks to decide a Ward 4 position.

Petty faced two challengers in his bid for re-election. Adam Fire Cat is a busboy who ran unsuccessful campaigns for the council in 2010 and mayor in 2008. Ryan Abshire is a recent college graduate who opened a convenience store off the Frisco Trail earlier this year.

Ward 2 includes central and north-central Fayetteville.

Petty
Petty

Washington County released early voting numbers about 8 p.m. Tuesday.

In early and absentee voting, Petty got 1,092 votes (50 percent) to Fire Cat’s 574 (26 percent) and Abshire’s 521 (24 percent) of the early vote.

William Chesser
William Chesser

Ward 4 encompasses most of west Fayetteville, including several neighborhoods north and west of the University of Arkansas. Unless one candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote, a runoff between the top two vote-getters will be Nov. 27.

Terry Black Coberly
Terry Black Coberly

Candidates in Ward 4 include William Chesser, a planning commissioner and high school science teacher; Terry Black Coberly, former Bentonville mayor; Mike Emery, a former television news director; Alan Long, a businessman and chairman of the city’s Animal Services Advisory Board; and J.P. Peters, a retired federal worker and health care consultant.

Long
Long

Long got 873 votes (37 percent) to Emery’s 478 (20 percent), Peters 398 (17 percent), Coberly’s 391 (17 percent) and Chesser’s 222 (9 percent) of the early vote.

The winning candidate will replace Ward 4 Alderwoman Sarah Lewis, who announced earlier this year she wouldn’t run for re-election after four years on the council.

Peters
Peters

Petty and the new Ward 4 representative will serve alongside two new faces on the council. Sarah Marsh, a sustainable building consultant, ran unopposed in Ward 1, which spans south Fayetteville, including all land south of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Huntsville Road. Marsh will replace Alderwoman Brenda Boudreaux, the council’s longest-serving member.

Martin Schoppmeyer Jr., superintendent at Haas Hall Academy, won Tuesday’s election without a challenger in Ward 3 in northeast Fayetteville. Schoppmeyer will replace Alderman Bobby Ferrell, who was first elected in 2004.

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