In the May 1 election, Funderburk vied for the seat against opponent Arliss Ann Bentley. Funderburk received 60.81% of the votes and Bentley garnered 39.19% of votes.
Funderburk is a retired vice president of Koch Specialty Plant Services, who served seven years on council before resigning in January to run for mayor. After taking his oath of office May 13, Aaron presented Funderburk with a gavel of his own.
In turn, Funderburk and City Manager Jason Stuebe gifted Aaron with a mounted gavel, plaque and proclamation recognizing Aaron for his 16 years serving the city of Humble as a council member and mayor. Stuebe joked, pointing out that Aaron's wooden gavel had a crack in it.
"I'm not sure what meeting that was, but I'm sure there's a story behind it," Aaron laughed.
Funderburk said the proclamation recognized Aaron for improving roads and drainage, investing in the police and fire departments, raising development standards and reinvesting in city parks.
"I can't promise that 50 years from now, everyone might have forgotten about hurricanes and floods and pandemics, but I do know that with the work that's been done during your time here as mayor, they'll look back on this and they'll see this as a great time," Funderburk said.
Funderburk thanked his wife, Kathy Funderburk, family members, friends, local elected officials and his advisory board for being in attendance. He also thanked former Council Member Allan Steagall, who retired in January, and his wife, Juanita Steagall.
Meanwhile, incumbents Charles “Andy” Curry and Charles Cunningham were also sworn in on May 13 after being re-elected to places 1 and 2, respectively.
Curry has served on the council since 1999—except for a two-year absence in 2011-13. Curry received 62.29% of the votes, while his lone opponent for Place 1, Eric Lacy, earned 37.71%.
In the race for Place 2, Cunningham earned 74.97% of the votes and opponent Linda Greenan received 25.03% of all votes cast. Cunningham was appointed to a vacant seat in September 2019 after former Council Member Glenn Redmon died of cancer; this will be Cunningham's first elected term on City Council.
Both Curry and Cunningham thanked their family and friends for attending the meeting and supporting them.
Click here to read Community Impact Newspaper's profile on Aaron.
