Long Wins in Ward 4

— West Fayetteville residents elected Alan Long on Tuesday as the City Council’s newest Ward 4 alderman.

Long received 382 votes (60 percent) to Mike Emery’s 259 (40 percent), according to final but unofficial results from the Washington County Election Commission

At A Glance

West Fork City Council

Bill Sergeant received 133 votes (76 percent) to Misty Caudle’s 42 (24 percent) in the race for the West Fork City Council’s Ward 2, Position 1 seat.

Sergeant is a retired truck component manufacturer who has previously filled vacancies on the West Fork City Council. Caudle is a stay-at-home mother and six-year City Council incumbent.

Source: Washington County Election Commission

Long, a buyer for an area food batter and breading company and chairman of the Fayetteville Animal Services Board, credited a good team of volunteers and a strong get-out-the-vote campaign in recent weeks for his success.

“I’m going to bring neighborhood concerns to the council, and I’m going to represent the people,” Long said. “An alderman’s job is to listen to the people, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

Emery, a former television newscast director and Air Force veteran, said he was disappointed by Tuesday’s result, but he congratulated Long and wished him the best on the City Council.

Long received about 800 more votes than four other Ward 4 candidates in the Nov. 6 general election. Because no candidate won at least a 50 percent majority, a runoff election between the top two vote-getters was needed.

Ward 4 encompasses most land west of Interstate 540 and several neighborhoods north and west of the University of Arkansas.

Long will replace outgoing Alderwoman Sarah Lewis, who announced earlier this year she would not run for re-election after four years in office.

He will join Sarah Marsh in Ward 1 and Martin Schoppmeyer Jr. in Ward 3 as the council’s newest members. Marsh and Schoppmeyer ran unopposed in the Nov. 6 general election. They will replace outgoing aldermen Brenda Boudreaux and Bobby Ferrell, respectively.

The three new council members will be sworn in at the first City Council meeting of 2013, along with Ward 2 Alderman Matthew Petty, who won his re-election bid with 49 percent of votes cast.

The City Council’s other four members are Adella Gray (Ward 1), Mark Kinion (Ward 2), Justin Tennant (Ward 3) and Rhonda Adams (Ward 4).

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