The Boerne City Council and Boerne Independent School District each will have a new member to swear in later this month, and Boerne council members will begin serving three-year terms next year as a result of Proposition A's passage.
BOERNE CITY COUNCIL
Mayor Frank Ritchie swept to re-election Saturday, outdrawing challenger Laura Haning by a 3-to-1 margin. Ritchie, first elected in 2023, received 1,022 votes to Haning's 329, a 51 percent margin of victory (75.6 to 24.3 percent). Ritchie carried early votiing by a similar margin.
City Council Place 2 will see a new face, as Joe Bateman jumped ahead of Councilwoman Sharon Wright in early voting and held on for a 179-154 win. Wright managed to cut into Bateman's 60-40 percent lead in early voting, but couldn't pull closer than 7.5 percent down the stretch.
Bateman lost to Wright in the 2023 election by 21 votes.
Also an overwhelming favorite among voters is the city's move to three-year council terms. Currently, the mayor and council serve two-year terms, but that will change with the 2026 election as 1,025 votes selected "for" while only 313 cast "against" votes, better than a 3-to-1 margin (76.6 to 23.4 percent).
Bret Bunker ran unopposed in his first election since being appointed to the City Council Place 4 position in September 2023.
BOERNE SCHOOL DISTRICT
In the Boerne Independent School District, newcomer Sarah Faulkenberry shot out in front of Place 4 Trustee Maritza Gonzalez-Cooper in early voting and coasted to a win with 76.8 percent of the vote.
Faulkenberry, a mother and wife of a wounded warrior, received 2,271 votes -- defeating Gonzalez-Cooper, a trustee for the past 12 years, who drew 687 votes.
Place 5 Trustee Garrett Wilson, the current board president, will retain his seat. He grabbed 79.9 percent of the votes, outdistancing challenger Scott Newberry, who received 580 votes -- a 79.9 to 20.1 advantage.
FAIR OAKS RANCH
Vote totals for three winning Fair Oaks Ranch City Council candidates were within 5 votes of each other, as one newcomer joined two incumbents in earning council seats.
All three candidates who lost their bids campaigned in opposition to the city's efforts to build a new $2.4 million community center
Place 3 incumbent Ruben Olvera received 623 votes to challenger Scott Rose’s 484 votes, a 56.3-43.7 percent victory.
Similarly, Place 5 incumbent Scott Parker drew 626 votes, or 57.2 percent of the 1,093 votes cast, to challenger Kevin Cox’s 467 votes (42.8 percent). Cox trailed Parker by 111 votes after early voting.
In Place 4, where incumbent Councilwoman woman Laura Koerner termed out, Dale Pearson joined Olvera and Parker with a triple-digit vote win. His 621 votes were 152 better than challenger Jim Roff’s 469 votes, a 57-43 percent difference.
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