Tammy Meinershagen will be named to fill the seat of Council Member Shona Huffman, according to Mayor Jeff Cheney, who addressed the issue during a Feb. 28 town hall. Cheney said the city is canceling the May 7 general election for Place 2 and Place 4 on City Council because both races are uncontested. The mayor said Meinershagen will be sworn in around mid-May.
Huffman is resigning from her seat on March 15 and withdrawing from her campaign for re-election due to a breast cancer diagnosis, according to a Facebook post she shared on Feb. 24. Meinershagen was the only other candidate who filed to run for that seat by the Feb. 18 deadline.
Incumbent Council Member Bill Woodard was the only candidate to file for his Place 4 seat and would have run unopposed.
“We lift [Huffman] up and hope you join us in that as well,” Cheney said. “Because of her focus on her health and her family, she has chosen to withdraw from that election.”
Meinershagen, who wished Huffman a speedy recovery, said she was excited to serve as the first Korean-American woman on Frisco City Council. As the chair of the Frisco Arts Foundation, Meinershagen said she looks forward to representing arts, culture and diversity for the city.
"I do have a lot of ideas about the council priorities," she said. "I believe I'm coming in at a perfect time for Frisco's future."
Place 5 on City Council will also be filled by a new member.
A special election will be decided in a runoff on March 26 as voters choose between Laura Rummel and Tracie Reveal Shipman to fill Dan Stricklin’s seat. Stricklin resigned his seat on Nov. 26 when he announced his campaign for the Precinct 2 seat on the Denton County Commissioners Court.
Neither Rummel nor Shipman accumulated at least 50% of votes in a three-way race in the Jan. 29 special election. With 122,918 registered voters in Frisco, turnout for the special election was 4.15%.
Early voting for the runoff is from March 9-22. More information on the runoff can be found here.
