Atwater elects new mayor, gains new council members

Atwater voters on Tuesday elected a new mayor – the city’s first taste of new leadership in eight years – and two new members to the City Council.

Preliminary election results showed Mayor Joan Faul trailing her challenger, Jim Price, by nearly 20 percentage points. With all 14 precincts reporting, Price earned 59 percent of the vote, and Faul won 40 percent.

In the highly anticipated City Council race, the top vote-getters were Brian Raymond with 34 percent and James Vineyard with about 29 percent. Raymond and Vineyard were competing with Bill Barkman and Fernando Echevarria for the two council seats.

Faul, 73, was first elected to the Atwater City Council in 2002. The retired educator became mayor in 2006 and ran uncontested in the following two elections.

Moments after securing the mayoral race, Price told the Sun-Star that he was humbled by the victory.

“I’m a little numb right now,” Price, 63, said. “I came to this race seeing the problems and knowing something had to be done. I’m anxious to get in and see what I can do, and I hope we can all come together to make the city the best it can be.”

Price, vice president of operations at Gemini Flight Support, said his top priority will be restoring staffing levels at the Police Department and finding ways to balance the city’s budget. Price said he’ll also push to have two council meetings a month and allow the public five minutes to comment.

Under Faul’s leadership, Atwater flirted with bankruptcy a few years ago and continues to operate with a barely balanced budget. However, Faul said she’s proud of her accomplishments over the last eight years and will continue to be active in the city.

“This is the decision the people made, and this is the democratic process,” Faul said Tuesday. “I’ve put my heart and soul into the city, but it’s just the way that it is.”

Faul said there has never been a mayor in the city’s history that has earned a third term in office. “That’s just the way it is,” she said. “I would have been very surprised if I had been elected for a third term.”

The two open City Council seats were those vacated by Craig Mooneyham and Jeff Rivero, who both announced they would not seek re-election due to family obligations.

Raymond, 33, told the Sun-Star on Tuesday that he’s “glad that liberty won” and that some elections can’t be bought by political committees.

“My first priority is to restore hope in the city of Atwater,” said Raymond, a former Livingston police officer and Atwater real estate agent. “I want openness, and I want to see the city use funds appropriately and be a business-friendly town. I want to thank my family and the city of Atwater.”

Vineyard, 57, could not be reached for comment Tuesday. A retired fire department captain, Vineyard oversees the Police Department’s neighborhood watch program.

This story was originally published November 4, 2014 at 10:43 PM with the headline "Atwater elects new mayor, gains new council members."