Cave Creek voters appear to have reelected their mayor and the entire Town Council on Tuesday.
“It’s always a sigh of relief when an election is over,” said Mayor Vincent Francia, who cruised to a fifth term over challenger Kimberly Versage.
Neighboring Carefree released unofficial results from an all-mail ballot election, as well, showing incumbent Greg Gardner and political newcomer Bob Gemmill leading a field of ll candidates.
Cave Creek and Carefree, in the far north Valley, each have roughly 4,000 to 5,000 residents. Each town holds an election every two years for every seat on each seven-member Town Council.
Yvonne Reed, spokeswoman for the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office, said results should be made official Friday. Some mail ballots have yet to be counted in each town, so final tallies could change.
In Cave Creek, Town Clerk Carrie Dyrek said unofficial results show Francia would be reelected by a wide margin. Incumbent council members Kim Brennan, Ernie Bunch, Richard K. Esser, Gilbert Lopez, Thomas McGuire and Grace Meeth would keep their seats, too. Roughly 600 to 700 ballots were cast in the election, Dyrek estimated.
In Carefree, outgoing Mayor Ed Morgan predicted the election of incumbents Gardner, Wayne Fulcher, Lloyd Meyer and David Schwan, in addition to challengers Gemmill and Glenn R. Miller. Morgan also said he believes incumbents Bob Coady and Gary Hayward will face each other in a runoff election May 15 for the final seat. Twenty votes separate the pair.
However, since it’s unknown how many ballots were mailed, it’s too early to call.
