Tuesday, April 2, 2024 the Municipal Elections were held for Excelsior Springs, turning out a small percentage of the population. Contested races for the city included the Excelsior Springs School Board, while the Council race only drew two candidates for two seats. County races included the Clay County Public Health Board Trustees and Ray County 911 Board.
In the Excelsior Springs School District Board Member election, there were two open seats and four candidates running. The top vote-getter was Traci White, with 695 votes, and returning to the board will be Troy Snelling, with 516 votes. Russell Wenz pulled 444 votes while former school board member Kristi Shewell brought 394.
In a Facebook Post, Traci thanked her supporters saying, “I am deeply grateful to everyone who has supported me over the past month. From liking, commenting, and sharing my social media posts to help spread the word, to those of you who reached out to request or allow yard signs, to the kind text messages and calls offering words of encouragement, to those who verbally shared recommendations with friends and family – you are my tribe that helped make winning this school board election a reality, and I am truly humbled by your support.
Being elected as an Excelsior Springs School District #40 School Board member is an honor I do not take lightly. I am committed to serving our district to the best of my abilities for the next 3 years of my term.
Thank you, once again, for your unwavering support. I look forward to working alongside the other School Board members to make a positive impact on our schools.”
In a more concise message, Troy Snelling simply said, “Thanks, y’all.”
There were two seats open on City Council and there were only two to file, current Mayor Pro Tem Stephen Spear and Former Chief of Excelsior Springs Police John McGovern. Some may question McGovern’s eligibility seeing as how his wife, Molly McGovern, is the current City Manager, but he has stated that he will recuse himself in matters that directly involve Molly’s work performance. McGovern received the majority vote in the race receiving 541 between the two counties. Spear close behind with 534.
There were several contested Ray County elections, including the Ray County 911 Board Member from the Western District. In that race there were two open seats and three candidates running. Matt Nolker brought 701 votes and Pete Oulman brought 525 votes, to be the winners of the race. Lee O’Dell was not far behind with 520 votes and there were 16 write-ins.
In the Wood Heights Alderman race, Randy C Jones and Trent Grimes both winning seats. The City of Wood Heights voted down the ballot issue to change the terms of office for individuals elected for Mayor and Board of Alderman from a two (2) year term to a four (4) year term. It was a clear no with 65.15% of the vote.
The highly contested Clay County Public Health Board Trustee race brought the most votes in elections between the counties. There were five candidates with the top three earning seats. Debbie Florido earned 11,006 votes, while Courtney Cole brought in 10,228 and Emma Shankland with 9,135, all earning seats on the board. Also in the race was Jim Dixson pulling 8,723 votes, while Dave Ferrara received 8,278.
The information provided in this article was sourced from the Clay County Election Board and the Ray County Clerk’s office. Please see official election results embedded below.
Editor’s Note: Courtney Cole, mentioned in this article, is also Publisher of the Excelsior Citizen and author of this article.
Clay County
Ray County
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