Olmos Park picks new mayor, councilman
Olmos Park has a familiar face taking over as mayor after Saturday’s election.
Place 5 Councilwoman Deanna Rickabaugh, 58, is moving up to the mayoral seat, while criminal defense attorney Will Brooks will fill the spot she is leaving behind.
Kenyon Mcdonald ran unopposed for the Place 4 seat, which he has held since 2014.
Rickabaugh’s new position had been held by Mayor Ronald Hornberger, who decided not to run again this year, since May 2016.
The election results will be canvassed at a May 18 special council meeting set to begin at 5:30 p.m. At that time, Rickabaugh, Brooks and Mcdonald will be sworn in. The mayor and council member terms are two years long, with no term limits.
Voters in Olmos Park also approved a proposition to reauthorize the local sales and use tax rate of 0.25 percent. The rate, which goes before voters every four years, has been the same in Olmos Park since 2002.
In Terrell Hills, voters also reauthorized their local sales and use tax rate of 0.25 percent. Similar to Olmos Park, Terrell Hills puts the item before voters ever four years and has had the same rate since 2014.
Rickabaugh received 63 percent of the Olmos Park mayoral vote in unofficial returns, outpolling former Mayor Kenneth Farrimond 408-243.
“I’m very excited and honored that my neighbors think enough of me to allow me to do this for them,” Rickabaugh said Tuesday.
Brooks got 55 percent of the vote in unofficial returns, winning a 324-263 victory over Motorola Solutions project manager Robert M. Adelman.
“I’m super thankful and I’m excited to serve,” Brooks said Tuesday. “I’m very appreciative of my family, friends and other folks that I served on Planning and Zoning with, because I think they’re probably more responsible than I am for it. I’m glad everybody pitched in and helped out.”
Both candidates are learning about their new roles. Brooks said he is reading up on the meeting minutes from the last city council meeting, and Rickabaugh said she has met with city staff about steps moving forward.
Rickabaugh served on the city’s planning and zoning commission from 2014 to 2018. Since 2018, the real estate agent has held the Place 5 council seat. She has lived in the city for 12 years.
Rickabaugh said ahead of the election that she was running because the city deserves a strong mayor and because she thinks that it would be good to have a leader who is familiar with the current issues the city is facing.
“I’m going to stay focused on our basic needs of the community — the sewers, the streets, the police, the fire department — making sure that in all our processes we’re working smarter, not harder, and that we’re being really good stewards of our tax dollars,” Rickabaugh said.
Brooks, 40, was on the planning and zoning commission for two years starting in 2018. In 2019, he was the commission’s chairman. He said ahead of the election that he loved serving so much that he decided to run for City Council. He has lived in the city since 2013.
Brooks said his daily work as an attorney makes him a good fit for the council since his job requires him to interact with elected officials, county and city employees as well as a wide variety of other people.
As he settles into his new role, Brooks said he is looking to learn from city staff and more senior members of the council. He said he wants to learn what issues the city is facing, what to expect in council meetings, and how issues are identified and addressed.
“The first portion of it is just trying to learn from other folks who know what they’re doing and ask questions,” Brooks said.