Central Voters Elect New Mayor, Police Chief, Five New Council Members; Runoff Is Dec. 8

After a raucous election campaign filled with charges and countercharges, voters in the City of Central went to the polls on Tuesday, Nov. 6 and defeated all incumbents on the ballot — Mayor Jr. Shelton, Police Chief James Salsbury, Mayor Pro-Tem Kim Fralick, and Council members Shane Evans, Wayne Messina, and John Vance. Council member Jason Ellis did not seek reelection.
Since the last city elections in the spring of 2014, the City of Central (pop. 28,000) underwent a natural disaster of epic proportions during the flood of August 2016. In addition, the City Council was reapportioned from five members elected at-large citywide to seven-members. Of the seven members, five Council members are now elected from single-member districts and two are elected at-large citywide.
Shelton was elected Mayor in 2014 and led the city through the flood of 2016. He generally received high marks for his efforts during and after the flood, and Central recovered well ahead of communities effected by the flood.
However, in a three-way race, voters chose David Barrow outright over Mayor Jr. Shelton and businessman Marc Michelli. Barrow had served as the Chief Administrative Officer to both Mayors Mac Watts and Jr. Shelton.
Central Police Chief James Salsbury was defeated by former Sheriff’s deputy Roger Corcoran.
In the race for City Council at-Large, newcomer to politics Wade Evans ran a strong first and was elected in the primary. In the Dec. 8 runoff, engineer Aaron McKinney will face sales representative Ryan Meador for the second at-Large seat. Councilman Wayne Messina and political newcomer Kim Powers were eliminated in the primary.
In Council District 1, former Council member Aaron Moak defeated Charlie Habig. Moak will be the only member of the new Council with experience.
In Council District 2, attorney Josh Roy defeated incumbent Councilman John Vance.
In Council District 3, businessman Dave Freneaux defeated Mayor Pro-Tem Kim Fralick.
In Council District 4, teacher D’Ann Wells defeated Councilman Shane Evans.
In Council District 5, Jeffrey Meyers was eliminated in the primary. Charles Lee Hinton and Briton Myer will face off in the Dec. 8 runoff.

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