Hervol-Mitchell runoff tentatively set for June 11

If it’s necessary, the City Council Place 1 runoff election between incumbent Diane Hervol and business owner Travis Mitchell will take place Saturday, June 11. The runoff could be necessary because the first election last Saturday ended in a tie with each candidate receiving 510 votes.

I say "if it’s necessary," because I have learned a recount of the original votes cast will be conducted Monday. Although I have never personally seen a vote remain exactly the same after a recount, Hays County Elections Administrator Joyce Cowan has supposedly told others involved in the election that she has never seen a vote changed by a recount. And I am definitely going to defer to her knowledge of elections in Hays County.

So, if she’s right and the vote remains tied after Monday’s recount, the City Council has on its agenda Tuesday an item calling for a runoff election for the second Saturday in June, a date that virtually guarantees (because of vacation plans, school closings, etc.) a far smaller turnout than the paltry 6.04 percent of registered voters who bothered to take the trouble to vote in the first election.

Other than that, there’s nothing much on the council’s agenda, which you can read for yourself by clicking here, to get all in a huff about or even half in a huff about, although it will be interesting to get the latest update from City Engineer Leon Barba on the five road bond projects. I’m expecting him to announce the imminent opening of the Marketplace extension between City Lights and Burleson Road, but the supplementary materials made available to the public prior to the meeting offer no hint as to what Barba will say.

There’s also a resolution to amend the City’s PID policy I’m still trying to wrap my head around, but I think it means more weight is going to be given to providing financial incentives to commercial developments and less to residential ones, which is a good thing. But why that is wrapped around a PID policy escapes me since a PID is a financing tool, not an incentivizing one. Hopefully, we’ll get some clarification on these changes at Tuesday’s meeting.