Runoff is certain, but competitors undecided

The Ozark mayor’s race will go to a runoff after City Council member Roxie Hall failed to get a majority of votes in the three-way race, but exactly who Hall will run against wasn’t certain after Tuesday’s election.

Hall received 375 votes in the election, with incumbent Mayor T.R. McNutt coming in second with 311 and Stephen Whiteaker receiving 309.

Since no candidate received more than 50 percent of the votes cast, the two top vote-getters will face off in a runoff scheduled for Dec. 4. As it stands,

McNutt would face Hall in the runoff.

But Franklin County Clerk De Anna Schmalz said there were four provisional ballots she must investigate and she was waiting for some absentee ballots to arrive. She said she will announce her decision on the provisional ballots at 3 p.m. Tuesday.

With the margin between

McNutt and Whiteaker so close, results from those provisional or absentee ballots could put Whiteaker in the runoff.

Hall said she was humbled and honored by the show of support from voters. She said she wanted to be in the leadership position to move Ozark forward.

“I want to be the people’s mayor,” Hall said. “I have lived here my entire life, and as long as I have been on the council I have tried to make sure the citizens were taken care of.”

McNutt said the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette treated him unfairly by publishing a story two weeks before the election that carried claims by Whiteaker of corruption in Ozark government. He said he was misquoted about an audit being conducted of the city’s finances and that the newspaper didn’t give him adequate opportunity to respond to Whiteaker’s accusations.

McNutt has denied Whiteaker’s allegations. He acknowledged that City Clerk Sonya Eveld, who won re-election to the office Tuesday, used the city’s credit card to buy personal items but that

she paid back the money she spent.

He said he would work hard to win in a runoff.

“I am going to try to get re-elected,” he said. “I think I still have a good chance to win.”

Whiteaker made accusations of misspending of taxpayer money in the Ozark Fire Department and the city clerk’s office. He also accused Hall of violating the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act by exchanging text messages discussing city business with two other City Council members.

He said support in the community regarding his allegations against the city government compelled him to run for mayor.

Prosecuting Attorney David Gibbons has said he will seek appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the accusations of corruption in the Ozark government.