Two new members will join MH City Council in January

By Robert Airoldi & Calvin Nuttall

With just a few thousand votes to count countywide, Mayor Mark Turner appears to have retained his seat and two newcomers are leading in their respective races, replacing two outgoing council members.

Incumbent Turner has garnered 12,270 votes (58.33 percent) compared to challenger and current city councilmember representing District B Yvonne Martinez Beltran with 8,766 votes (41.76 percent).

Turner said he is grateful to the residents of Morgan Hill for the overwhelming victory and allowing him to continue serving as their mayor.

“It was a long campaign season and I focused on communicating my vision for the city including public safety, funding for public art, youth sports and recreation tourism, healthy Morgan Hill, and job creation,” he said in an email Wednesday afternoon. “Going forward I will continue to be present and available for our community. I will continue meeting with residents, business owners, community leaders as well as non-profit leaders looking for ways to improve the quality of life for our residents.”

In the Morgan Hill race for District A replacing the outgoing Rene Spring who decided not to run for reelection, Miriam Vega has 2,545 votes (55.52 percent) compared to Dave Dindak’s 2,039 votes (44.48 percent).

In the council race for District C replacing the outgoing Gino Borgioli who also chose not to run for reelection, Soraida Iwanaga is leading with 2,294 votes (54.70 percent) compared to Michael Orosco’s 1,900 votes (45.30 percent).

Cindy Rogers Murphy was the sole candidate running for City Treasurer. She has garnered all 16,787 votes cast for the position.

In the race for three school board seats, Jennifer Marquez (Trustee Area 5), Rebecca Munson (Trustee Area 6), and Veronica Andrade (Trustee Area 7) are the new school board trustees.

Replacing the outgoing Ivan Rosales Montes, Marques garnered 2,039 votes (52.65 percent) compared to Tyler Smith’s 1,834 votes (47.35 percent). Challenger Munson ousted incumbent Mary Patterson with 2,236 votes (58.34 percent) compared to 1,597 votes (41.66 percent). In the race for Trustee Area 7 replacing the outgoing Adam Escoto, Andrade collected 1,973 votes (65.53 percent) compared to Tom Pocus who garnered1,038 votes (34.47 percent).

Measure A, which would amend the Morgan Hill Municipal Code to establish a 12-consecutive year limit on combined mayoral, city council, and treasurer terms, overwhelmingly passed with 16,308 “Yes” votes (78.89 percent) to 4,364 “No” votes (21.11 percent).

Measure B, which would increase the term of office for the directly elected mayor to four years rather than the current two years, is also favored to pass, with 11,246 “Yes” votes (53.81 percent) to 9,655 votes (46.19 percent).

In Gilroy, mayoral challenger Greg Bozzo has taken the lead over incumbent Marie Blankley after trailing her for the better part of the week. As of 10 a.m.  Friday, Nov. 22, Bozzo held a 207-vote advantage over Blankley, with 11,228 votes (50.47 percent) to her 11,021 (49.53 percent).

Bozzo said his campaign team has always thought the race would be very close.

“I don’t think anyone could have predicted the way it has played out and that the margins would be so narrow,” he said via email Tuesday. “So, we must wait for the Registrar  of Voters office to account for every vote before any outcomes can be determined.”

The city’s three available city council seats are decided by a top-three vote between six candidates.

The race is currently led by firefighter and incumbent councilmember Zach Hilton with 10,864 votes (20.96 percent), followed by small business owner Terence Fugazzi with 10,037 votes (19.36 percent), and planning commissioner Kelly Ramirez in third with 8,980 votes (17.32 percent).

They are followed by incumbent Fred Tovar, 8,597 votes (16.58 percent), planning commissioner Stefanie Elle, 7,694 votes (14.84 percent), and incumbent Rebeca Armendariz, 5,668 votes (10.93 percent), in fourth, fifth, and sixth place respectively.

The public safety tax increase Measure C is favored by many residents but needs 66 percent to pass. It has garnered 13,390 “Yes” votes (60.51 percent) versus 8,740 “No” votes (39.49 percent).

In the race for three seats on the Gilroy Unified School District Board of Trustees all three candidates ran unopposed. They are Hyon Chu Yi-Baker, for Area 2, Kenny Moreno for Area 5 and Jennifer Del Bono for Area 6. All Winning candidates will be seated in January.

Calvin Nuttal is a Morgan Hill-based freelance reporter.