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published: Friday, November 06, 2009
VOTERS SELECT TWO NEW SOUTH LAKE MAYORS
VOTERS SELECT TWO NEW SOUTH LAKE MAYORS
ROXANNE BROWN
Staff Writer
South Lake County will see some changing of the guards, especially in Mascotte and Minneola, where the city's top people were up for election.
In the Mascotte mayoral race, Jeff Krull edged out incumbent Felix Ramirez by just 12 votes, 114-102.
Krull, a five-year member of the city council, reclaimed the seat he'd lost two years earlier to Ramirez.
After Tuesday's vote, Krull said he is thankful for the confidence Mascotte's citizens put in him.
"I'm relatively speechless but honored that the citizens of Mascotte showed such great hope toward me and I will own up to it," Krull said. "I guess people didn't want the change former mayor Ramirez brought with him and wanted the changes that I'll bring."
"I don't want Mascotte to go downhill any further because it has in the last two years. So I'm out to build a city."
Ramirez could not be reached for comment.
Krull's wife, Barbara Krull, will join him on the council in Seat 1, a post she earned with victory over two opponents: Miguel Ortiz and Rosario Valdez. Barbara Krull ended up with 103 votes, Ortiz with 65 and Valdez with 45.
Krull said she is excited and relieved that people recognized her by her married name on the ballot. She is the former Barbara Tillman.
For Seat 5, it will be Stephen Elmore for two more years, thanks to his win over Louise Thompson, 116-95.
This term will mark Elmore's third on the council. Elmore has lived in Mascotte for five years and is a production supervisor for SPS Publications in Eustis.
In Minneola, councilman Pat Kelley defeated Mayor David Yeager for the Mayoral win. Yeager has held that post for the last four years.
The vote was 443-340.
Kelley was elected to his first term on the city council in 2007 and served on the city's planning and zoning board for two years.
"I feel good. I think the citizens of Minneola sent a message that we need to control spending and that they didn't like the direction the city was headed toward," Kelley said Tuesday night. Kelley said his first order of business will be filling the open city manager position.
"I would also like to, as a council, get together and set some goals and objectives for the city to reach," Kelley said.
Yeager said he was surprised and a little disappointed by his loss, but said he has no regrets.
"I'm not going to apologize for being me and I can truly say that I've never worked so hard in my entire life at anything like I have being mayor of Minneola. I did all I could do," Yeager said.
Rick Roderick, who qualified for Seat 1 unopposed, will fill that post for the next two years.
Joseph Saunders, who was briefly appointed to that seat last September after Councilor Joe Teri resigned amidst a pornography scandal, regained his position on council, beating Jerry Roach with a 388-345 vote in his favor.
In Clermont, two city council seats, 2 and 4, were up for election this year.
Incumbent Ray Goodgame, who qualified for Seat 2 unopposed, will fill that post for two more years. In addition, incumbent Keith Mullins, who has sat in Seat 4 on the council since he was first elected in 1999, beat opponent Richard Giacobe with a vote of 733-487.
Mullins has lived in Clermont for 21 years and is the owner of Bacchus Vino Etcetera, a retail wine shop in downtown Clermont.
Lastly, in the city of Groveland, two city council seats, for districts 2 and 4, were up for election. This election marked the first year candidates ran in districts instead of at-large.
Incumbent Jim Gearhart faced off against Mike Radzik, keeping his spot in District 2 with a 335-239 vote.
Gearhart, who owns AAA American Storage in Groveland, has lived in Groveland since 1968 and has served two-and-a-half years on the city council.
District 5, however, will see a change as newcomer Evelyn Wilson beat incumbent Allen Sherrod with a 387-186 vote.
Wilson has lived in Groveland since 2006 and is a self-proclaimed lifetime political activists. This is Wilson's first time entering the political arena.
According to the supervisor of elections office, all vote tallies are unofficial until provisional ballots are decided.
