Early election results showed incumbent Tom O’Malley successfully defending his seat on the Atascadero City Council on Tuesday night. Planning Commissioner Brian Sturtevant grabbed the other available spot, vacated by former Councilmember Ellen Beraud, who did not seek re-election.
“I am very pleased with how the votes are coming in,” O’Malley said. “I feel good, and I am relaxing at home with friends. We’re watching a movie.”
Sturtevant and O’Malley, who will reassume the role of mayor pro tem, will join current Mayor Roberta Fonzi and council members Jerry Clay and Bob Kelley to serve on the City Council.
Atascadero voters chose to elect their mayor, rather than having the council appoint a different member of that five-person panel to serve a one-year term.
They also narrowly decided that the elected mayor’s term will last for two years rather than four years.
Before Tuesday’s election, Atascadero was the only city of the county’s seven that didn’t allow voters to elect the mayor.
With the approval of the measure, voters in Atascadero will be able to choose their mayor in the 2012 election. Until then, the Council will continue to elect a mayor and mayor pro tem of its choosing.
A successful re-election means incumbent Joe Modica will continue to serve as city treasurer. City Clerk Marcia McClure Torgerson ran unopposed.