by JEN BIUNDO

FLETCHER

On the heels of fiercely fought primary battles for county and statewide races last month, five unopposed candidates will cruise into office in the May 8 municipal and school races, which will feature just one contested election in Kyle and one for the Hays school board.

With no contested races on the ballot, the city of Buda may be set to call off the spring elections, sparing a campaign season for incumbent Place 1 Councilmember Ron Fletcher and incoming Place 2 councilmember Todd Ruge. The Place 2 incumbent, Kelly Allen, did not seek reelection.

Write-in candidates have until March 15 to sign up for a place on the ballot, said City Secretary Toni Milam. After that date, the council may cancel the election.

Ruge, 37, made a 2008 bid for council, but came in last in a close three way race between former mayor Billy Gray and the victor in the race, current councilmember Scott Dodd. But in the following two years, Ruge immersed himself in local issues.

“I feel like in the last two years I’ve put in the work,” Ruge said. “I think people last time around really liked my ideas, but I think people can trust me now.”

RUGE

Ruge, who lives in old town Buda with his wife, serves on the city’s Zoning Board of Adjustments and is vice president of the Friends of the Buda Library. He said he would work to support the historic downtown, along with roads, drainage and public safety.

Fletcher, who teaches government classes at Austin Community College, served on the city’s first Planning and Zoning Commission and was elected to the council in 2008. Along with councilmember Sandra Tenorio, Fletcher voted against the controversial U.S. Foodservice development.

In Kyle, several officials have resigned recently to seek higher offices, leaving just two councilmembers, David Wilson and Becky Selbera, who will have held their seats for more than three months following the spring elections.

Bradley Pickett, a financial manager who moved to Kyle in 2006, has been campaigning for months for the seat that will be vacated by incumbent councilmember David Salazar, who did not seek a third term in office.

Though Pickett did not draw a challenger, he said he’s still on the campaign trail.

“I’m going to keep campaigning,” Pickett said. “While I don’t need to necessarily convince people to vote for me, I do need to find out what the concerns of the people are.”

PICKETT

Pickett primarily is pushing for tighter financial management and long-term planning in a city with a high debt load.

“Zero-based budgeting would ensure that we have the right resources in the right places,” Pickett said. “We could begin to pay down this debt and even start saving for some of these projects, like a new police station. Even if we have just half the money to pay for it, that’s better than putting it all into debt.”

Kyle will see one contested race for the seat being vacated by former councilmember Michelle Lopez, who resigned to make an unsuccessful bid for the mayor’s seat against Lucy Johnson. Lopez will serve until her replacement – either Jason Welch or Diane Hervol – is elected in May.

Hervol, a legal administrator who serves on the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission, has said in her campaign that she’ll work to keep Kyle’s sense of community while pushing to create jobs and improve mobility.

“One of my visions for Kyle is not to lose its small town, hometown feeling in this time of extraordinary growth and development,” Hervol said. “I believe a sense of community is important and vital to all the citizens of Kyle.”

Welch, a sales manager, lives in the Trails subdivision with his wife and five children. On his campaign website, dotted with photos of the founding fathers and passages from the Declaration of Independence, Welch says he’ll work to fight involuntary annexation and reduce spending.

TENORIO

“It is infuriating when a government mismanages its finances because it is everybody else’s money, forcing the imposition on everybody regardless of their consent,” Welch writes. “… I promise to challenge every stupid budgeting proposal that comes before the council.”

Two candidates, one incumbent and one newcomer, did not draw challengers in their races for the Hays CISD board of trustees, while one long-time school board member faces a contested race in a new district.

Willie Tenorio, a Kyle native, will keep the District 2 seat he was appointed to in December after former trustee Joe Munoz moved out of district and resigned. Meanwhile, Buda resident Merideth Keller, an active Hays CISD volunteer and former business manager, will step into the District 4 seat vacated by Ralph Pfluger.

The trustees will be sworn in on May 17.

“My heart and soul is with Hays CISD,” Keller said. “May 17 can’t come soon enough for me.”

Keller said that had she drawn a candidate, she would have campaigned on a platform of making academics “engaging and relevant for all learners” and advocating for students, parents and teachers.

KELLER

Munoz, a supervisor with the Austin Police Department, held the District 2 seat since 1999 and is seeking the District 5 seat that represents the large western swath of the district. His resignation came amid concerns that the school district acted improperly in making repairs to a house that it owns and rented to the Munoz family. Munoz denied the allegations and said he’s looking forward to another term.

“I believe that my demonstrated commitment to youth and education, the 10-plus years of training I have received, and my understanding of the district’s fiscal needs have prepared me to meet today’s school board challenges,” Munoz wrote on his website.

Munoz faces a challenger in Marty Kanetzky, a Driftwood computer consultant, who is campaigning on academic accountability and good financial stewardship.

Early voting in all races runs from April 26 – May 4, prior to the May 8 election day.