Yancey retains seat, Manning lands vacant spot in place 4

By LYNETTE SOWELL

Cove Leader-Press

 

In back-to-back elections, place 3 councilman Dan Yancey retains his position after Copperas Cove voters turned out to the polls in a runoff election.

 

Yancey came out ahead of Chuck Taylor, 68.66 to 31.34 percent, with the candidates receiving 471 and 215 votes, respectively.

 

Taylor said he called Yancey on Tuesday evening and congratulated him, and thanking him for running a clean campaign.

 

Meanwhile, Yancey is ready to continue the work for his first full term in office.

 

“It’s a relief,” Yancey said of the election being over. “It seems like all I’ve been doing is campaigning.

 

We’re working on transportation issues, certainly working on economic development issues, and we’re going to have a pretty robust calendar this coming year, that’s for sure. We need to take a more progressive approach to ideas and principles that match thesize of our city.”

 

Yancey ran last year for city council place 3, which was vacated by Gary Kent who resigned in a bid for mayor.

 

This year, Kent ran for place 4 on the council, which was vacated by Marty Smith in August upon her resignation. Smith was up for reelection and her resignation led to four candidates vying for that seat.

 

In the runoff, it was Jay Manning versus Kent, with Manning winning at the polls in a margin of 76.54 to 23.46 percent, or 545 votes to 167.

 

This is Manning’s first time serving on the council, although the real estate developer and engineer has previously served on the Planning & Zoning Commission as well as the board of the Copperas Cove Economic Development Corporation.

 

The Copperas Cove city council will canvass the votes next week, on Dec. 22. Yancey and Manning will be sworn in on Jan. 17.