There will be three new faces in City Hall in January. Riverton voters elected a new mayor and two new council members Tuesday night.
James Warr garnered 55 percent of the vote to win the mayor's post over Jan C. Wells, who chose not to run for the mayor's seat rather than run for City Council for a second time.Complete but unofficial returns provided by the city election clerk showed Warr receiving 1,289 votes to 1,064 votes for Wells. More than 50 percent of the registered voters turned out.
The new council members will be Raquel Ohmie and Brent C. Richards.
Warr credited his win in large part to citizen unrest over a proposed 83 percent property tax increase sought by the City Council this past summer.
"I think people want city government to be conservative with its money and they want more accountability," Warr said. "I ran on a platform of now tax increases while providing basic services."
Ohmie was again the top vote-getter in the council contest, although her 32 percent showing was not as strong as in the primary contest. Richards drew 28 percent in a strong showing.
Ohmie said she felt her showing was in large part due to her long involvement in civic activities.
Richards agreed Ohmie's long residence in the city and civic involvement helped her win votes. But, he said there is not a big philosophical difference between them and he believes they will work closely on tax issues.
With two incumbent council members and the incumbent mayor leaving, the tax issue becomes the city's biggest question.