Bishop - Cullen, Smith & Stottlemyre elected to Bishop City Council

With 38 percent of eligible voters participating, the Bishop General Municipal election resulted in some “new blood” for the City Council. The new members are David Stottlemyre and Laura Smith, with Susan Cullen being re-elected. Photo by Mike Bodine

The City of Bishop held its General Municipal election on Tuesday, and with a turnout of only 38 percent of voters, the results were finalized within just a couple of hours after polls closed.
Voters have chosen Laura Smith, David Stottlemyre and incumbent Susan Cullen to fill the three available seats on the Bishop City Council, and Bob Kimball was re-elected for his second term as treasurer after being appointed to the position in 2003.
With the departure of longtime councilmembers Frank Crom (who opted for retirement over another run) and Martin “Smiley” Connolly (who was bested Tuesday at the polls), the council now has a completely new set of faces from eight years ago.
According to Assistant City Clerk Denise Gillespie, there were a total of 603 ballots cast on Tuesday, 441 of which were filled out by absentee voters. The city has a roster of 1,587 registered voters.
Those ballots, according to Gillespie, break down to the following votes per candidate: Laura Smith, 336 votes; David Stottlemyre, 314 votes; Susan Cullen, 291 votes; Martin “Smiley” Connolly, 273 votes; Ted Gardner, 224 votes; Mary Baker, 123 votes; Bob Kimball, who ran unopposed, 358 votes.
Nearly all of the candidates reported that they were at City Hall Tuesday night awaiting the results.
Smith said she had been waiting Tuesday night at home until her husband finally couldn’t take the suspense and ventured down to City Hall.

“I am thrilled with the results and very excited to get started and work with the other members,” Smith said.
Smith added that she wished there would have been a bigger turnout of voters, since, “no other election will directly affect the city as much as this one.”
Stottlemyre said he was also thrilled with the results and is “looking forward to the challenges.”
He said these challenges are related to the state of the economy, not just in the city, but the whole country.
“But we’ll have to deal with problems as they come and one at a time,” Stottlemyre said.
Stottlemyre also praised City Administrator Rick Pucci for doing a great job keeping the city financially stable and, because of Pucci and city staff’s efforts, he hopes there will not be any immediate dire situations to deal with.
Cullen was re-elected for her second term, and said she was “very pleased” with the outcome.
“I’d like to thank the residents of the city for their votes and thank them for having faith in me that I’ll do another good job,” Cullen said.
She said she’s looking forward to working with a great, new city council.
Cullen added that she thought the campaigning was fair and the races were run well. “You rarely see mudslinging in a Bishop election,” she said.
The other incumbent, Connolly, will be stepping down after 17 years on the council.
“I’m not devastated, but I am going to miss it because it’s been such a good time,” Connolly said, “and I think I’ve done a pretty good job, but everything comes to an end – overall it’s been a great 17 years.”
He said the voters have elected qualified candidates – “new blood,” he called them – and he thinks voters have chosen candidates with “new ideas of their own.”
“Voters are looking for a change,” he said.

Connolly said he still plans on being involved in the community. “I’ll always be willing to help the city, as anybody in public service is willing to help, that’s why we’re all here.”
Newly elected members even approached him Tuesday night, after the results, asking him whether he’d be willing to offer advice or answer questions for the newcomers drawn from his vast experience. Connolly replied he’d be more than happy to help.
Gardner said he was grateful to be a part of the race and thought voters have made good choices. “I was hoping to be successful, but I’m still happy to be a part of the community and this great city.”
Gardner is a former council member, and he thinks this may have hurt his campaign.
“The two top vote-getters were new people which says to me, the voters want new faces. It also shows that Bishop is changing,” Gardner explained.
He said he hopes to continue to be involved with community and public service and will continue to work and help the city by drawing on his past experiences as former police officer, councilmember and hospital board member.
This is Gardner’s third loss running for an office; he lost re-election to the council in 2001 and lost his bid for an Inyo County Supervisor seat in 2008. He said that despite the losses he’s glad to have tried. “If I hadn’t gotten involved, if I hadn’t tried, I’d always be wondering, ‘What could have happened?’”
Gardner was gracious with his praise for Pucci and the excellent staff in such a small town. He said he also felt confident in the new council and is looking forward to working with them as a private citizen.
This municipal election’s results were finalized much faster and more efficiently than in the past thanks to new computer software. This software allows absentee ballot verification to be done via computer, instead of the time-consuming manual verification process.
Gillespie explained that prior to the new software applications, she would have to photocopy and drive down, or fax a copy of the mail-in ballot signature, to Independence to verify the voters’ signatures on the ballots with those of the voter registration signatures on file.
Gillespie said once the signatures were verified she would drive back to Bishop and approve the ballots for counting. She would have to do this several times on election day and it was an added workload for the Registrar’s Office in Independence.
With the new software, Gillespie types in the name and the registration signature pops up on her screen and she can verify it from the comfort of her desk and no one from Independence has to work overtime.
The software became a necessity as more voters are permanent absentee. There were 441 absentees this year and 409 in 2007.
She said this not only expedites the counting process but will probably be a moneysaver as well, with less travel and employees involved.
However, the sub-50 percent voter turnout in general is an unfortunate trend for the city. The 2007 election had a 44 percent turnout and 49 percent in 2005.
The bill for this election is not yet in, but Gillespie said the 2007 municipal election cost $15,163 and she said there’s usually a 5 percent increase in the cost each year.
The candidates will be sworn in at the next scheduled council meeting March 9. The next day the council will have a “retreat,” which is actually a budget workshop at the council chambers, to get the new members up to speed on policy and procedure.