LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

05/11/2024 06:00 AM

The value of a vote

Editor, In the May 4 election that featured a Boerne City Council election all three incumbents faced a significant challenge.

When the Kendall County Elections Office posted the unofficial results, they showed each vote counted when these three were re-elected despite a well-organized effort that sponsored each of the three challengers.

In District 1, Ty Wolosin retained his seat, besting Jeremy Pratt 257-142.

Joseph Macaluso won convincingly in District 5 over Nick Nuth, 248-118.

However, in the District 3 race between Quinten Scott and Daniel E. Weis, Scott won by a margin of 108-105.

In this city election it was clear every vote mattered.

Also on the ballot were a pair of propositions from Kendall County Water Control and Improvement District (WCID) No. 2B.

This is a subdistrict of Esperanza which was created in the Texas Legislature as Kendall County WCID No. 2 (the Master District) in 2017.

Proposition A was a road bond election. As printed on the sample ballot the election was FOR or AGAINST the issuance of $73,358,289 in road bonds and $110,037,443.50 in refunding bonds and the levy of ad valorem taxes to pay the principal and interest on the road bonds.

Proposition B was an operations and maintenance tax election. The election was for or against the levy of a tax not to exceed $1.20 per $100 valuation of taxable property.

A single voter decided the election, for both A and B.

In the city council election, hundreds within each district of thousands voted their confidence on who could best represent them.

In the election in Kendall County WCID No. 2A only one vote was cast for the thousands to follow.

— Milan Michalec Kendall County resident

The answer to prayer

Editor, I only read the headline to Sunday’s front-page story: “Rain fails to dampen Day of Prayer success.”

Kendall County is in extreme drought. The answer to prayer is always: Yes, no or not right now.

— Tom Lea Boerne resident

Kudos to brush site

Editor, Kudos to the members of the Kendall County Commissioners Court.

Our brush site provides a wonderful service: a place to dispose of brush or pick up free mulch.

The new equipment you bought is really productive.

There is a guy out there named Chris who sees that all the rules are followed. He operates the heavy equipment skillfully and is professional, congenial and helpful.

I think there are a lot of Kendall County employees who, like Chris, do an excellent job day after day, but who largely go unheralded.

So, here’s thanks to you and to them.

— Jerry Knippa Kendall County resident

Election: No mandate

Editor, While not officially certified, another Kendall County election has just wrapped up.

This election was a bit unusual — not because of the lack of voter participation, nothing unusual there; what set this election apart was the fact there actually were several contested races.

Kendall County residents actually had choices for city council positions and Boerne School District trustee positions. This was a welcome change from the usual roster of what could be best described as default candidates, as has been the case for some time.

While the total voter turnout was a paltry 7.04% (3,418 voters out of 48,532), at least this cycle there were three incumbent council members who faced challengers.

Regarding those individuals who put themselves forward to challenge the “status quo” incumbents; to each of them our community owes a large debt of gratitude.

Those 92.96% of registered voters who chose not to exercise their basic civic duty and responsibility, I would suggest you take a long hard look in a mirror at yourselves.

The three city council incumbents who appeared to have retained their seats (the real estate developer’s shill having barely emerged victorious, 50.7% to 49.3%); I would recommend you not read too much into the outcome of your individual races.

You do not have a mandate to govern, especially in light of your individual culpability for the approval of the “gas station with clean rest rooms!” project, among others.

While public trust and confidence in city of Boerne government might not be at an all-time low, it very may well be scraping along the bottom.

Going forward, perhaps officials of all local government bodies might well be advised to listen to the entirety of your constituent base, not just those who agree with you and the status quo.