Voters pick three council members, ok infrastructure upgrades in Columbia

Final results in Boone County and Columbia came back just before 10 Tuesday night.

Columbia Proposition 1, the $63 million bond issue to improve the city’s electric infrastructure, passed by 7,886 votes to 3,601. Proposition 2 also passed by 6,741 votes to 4,641. It boosts utility payments to pay for upgrades to Columbia’s stormwater system.

Ward 1 councilwoman Ginny Chadwick resigned in January after facing a series of controversies. The position covers parts of downtown and the central city, along with the MU campus.

Out of a large field of eight candidates, Clyde Ruffin won the seat with 327 votes. He is a professor at Mizzou and a senior pastor at Second Missionary Baptist Church at the corner of Fourth Street and Broadway. One candidate, Sal Nuccio, owner of the Eastside Tavern bar, dropped out a day before the election.

Ruffin told ABC 17 News he hopes to slow downtown growth in order to fix the infrastructure and preserve historic buildings.

In Ward 2, current council member Michael Trapp edged out challenger Paul Love with 877 votes to 794.

There were two candidates for Columbia’s Ward 6 on the city’s southeast side, after longtime incumbent Barbara Hoppe announced she would not seek another term, following nine years on the council. In that race, Betsy Peters beat Ryan Euliss by a mere 35 votes.

Euliss had flyers paid for by the outside business group, Missouri Club for Growth, which counts St. Louis multimillionaire Rex Sinquefield as one of its main donors.

Another campaign that raised a lot of money was the race for Boone Hospital Trustee. Jerry Kennett won that seat over Robert Doroghazi by 9,230 votes to 4,816.

This year polling places switched for about 22,000 voters in Columbia and Boone County. Turnout was 15.5%, from a total of 99,298 registered voters.

Catch complete Mid-Missouri election results: click here.