Incumbents prevail in two of three school board elections

One longtime school board incumbent was unseated and another incumbent survived a close challenge during Tuesday’s annual school election.

Voters in the Lake Hamilton School District elected newcomer Brian Peters to Position 53 over 30-year board president Don Smith. Final but unofficial results showed Peters with 1,766 votes to Smith’s 1,097.

Peters, the owner of Lake Hamilton and Hot Springs Animal hospitals, is a father of three students in the district. On Tuesday, he said he is “excited” to serve the district over the next five years.

Smith said he wishes his successor well in the position. He said he plans to continue to support the district as he currently has three grandchildren who attend Lake Hamilton schools.

In the Mountain Pine School Board race, board President Michael Palmer narrowly won re-election over former board member Robert Parker. Palmer received 274 votes, to Parker’s 254.

Palmer, an account specialist with Fastenal Co., has served on the school board for five years and has two children who have graduated from Mountain Pine High School and two children

enrolled in the district.

Parker, who said he is a mechanic at Magellan Golf Club in Hot Springs Village, served on Mountain Pine School Board for 10 years while his children were students in the district.

In Jessieville, Terry Anderson took Position 5 on the school board over Jay Davis, 515 to 473.

Anderson, a stone mason for A&H Masonry and Hot Springs Village resident, told The Sentinel-Record in early May that he “has a vested interest in the district.”

Davis is a former employee of Jessieville School District.

Unopposed candidates for area school boards included:

• Jimmie Harbin, Cutter Morning Star Position 4.

• Lonell “Dino” Lenox, Hot Springs Position 3.

• Steve White, Hot Springs Position 5.

• Mark Braziel, Lakeside Position 2.

Voters in Lakeside School District also approved a 4-mill increase Tuesday which will allow the district to add needed facilities to accommodate growth and increase security.

It was the only millage increase on the ballot. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette has previously reported that millage rates have to be on the ballot at least once a year in every Arkansas school district, regardless of whether a district is seeking any change in its rate, as required under Article 14, Section 3 of the Arkansas Constitution. If a district is seeking no change in its tax rate, residents vote on the current tax rate. No matter how the vote turns out, the existing millage rate will remain at the current level.