Some of the current occupants will return to office, by most knowledgeable observers' account. Two seats will change occupants because one commissioner, Trent Sisemore, is giving up his post to run for the office being vacated by the incumbent mayor. So, at least two commission seats will be occupied by new officeholders. I used to think so, believing that the city was exposing itself to the possibility of electing a slate of candidates fixated on a single issue that might not be in everyone's best interests. Now I believe the city is right to elect the entire commission at once.
Times are good in Amarillo.
The turnout Saturday likely will be light - very light, in fact. That is purely a reflection of the general satisfaction that Amarillo residents have with the condition of their municipal government. If these were bad times, such as they were a dozen years ago, Amarillo residents would get the chance to toss the rascals out - which they more or less did in that watershed 1989 election. In 1994, voters elected a new county judge, Ted Wood, and one commissioner, Jan Reid - both of whom were running against incumbents. Four years later, voters turned on Reid and on another incumbent commissioner, John Dodson.