Poplar Bluff residents will wait until Monday to learn who won a third seat on the city council, but bids Tuesday by Robert Smith and Mark Massingham were successful.
The city’s use tax also failed, 423-608. Officials from the city were not able to comment on the use tax by press time.
Uncertified election results for Butler County show Smith, 70, won the Ward 5 seat against Spencer Jones, 108-55.
Two seats for at-large were open, with one official candidate filing by the deadline to get on the ballot and one certified write-in candidate running.
Mark Massingham captured 870 votes to secure one of the at-large seats. Write-in votes for the second seat will be counted Monday, according to county officials. It is expected to go to the only certified write-in candidate, Robert Duckett, 54.
Smith has said this will be his last term on the council, and he hopes to see several projects completed. Smith works as a driver and is involved in Wheatley Historical Preservation Commission, Poplar Bluff Planning and Zoning Commission and the board of Operation Off-Street.
“There are some things that I want to see accomplished and that’s why I ran this time,” said Smith, who has previously served as mayor. “I want to see that city hall completed Downtown. I want to see this street paving project through. I want to work on trying to help the city generate some more revenue.”
Massingham, 64, said he is looking forward to serving the people of Poplar Bluff. He is involved with Poplar Bluff Historic Preservation Commission, Poplar Bluff (Mark Twain) Museum board and the Downtown Poplar Bluff board.
He thinks the next challenge facing the city is a personnel shortage, something current city officials had hoped to address with the use tax.
“I know we have a personnel shortage and we’ve got to find some way to take care of that (in the) police and fire, dispatchers and street department,” said Massingham, who retired from the city as city manager and has previously served on the city council.
Massingham also wants to see a Downtown city hall completed, something city officials promised the public in the past, he said.
Both Smith and Massingham said they were unsure what the next step would be for the use tax.
“We’ll have to try something else,” said Smith. “It seems like they (the public) isn’t ready for it.”
Massingham said city officials will need to sit down together to discuss what to do next.
Robert Duckett is the only certified write-in candidate, filing by the March 24 deadline, said Butler County Clerk Donna Hillis.
Write-in votes will be counted by a team Monday, she said. Approximately 96 write-in votes were received.
Even if another individual were to receive more write-in votes than Duckett, that candidate would not win, Hillis said, because that individual would not be certified.
Those elected will serve three-year terms.
Smith has served as the Ward 5 representative since 2017, and had previously served the ward from 2002 to 2014.
Incumbents for the at-large seat, Mayor Steve Davis and Chris Taylor, did not run for re-election. Davis has served on the council since 2017. Taylor was elected to the council in 2020.