Early voting in local elections will end Tuesday and decisions will be made for the Llano City Council, City of Sunrise Beach Village City Commission and the Kingsland Municipal Utility District after election day ballots are cast May 10.
Early voting for all three of those elections or for the areas included in Burnet Consolidated School District may be cast at the Llano County Library, 102 East Haynie from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday or 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on other weekdays, or at the Kingsland Library, 125 West Polk Street, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays.
KMUD President Mary Ann Hefner did not draw opposition in the election but two candidates are vying for Place 2 on the board of directors.
Incumbent Frank Willingham is seeking a third term on the board and former director Joyce Ailshie (pronounced EL-shy) is asking to return for a second.
Ailshie, a West Texas native, has been living in the Twin Isle area of Kingsland with her husband Larry since 1983.
“They were putting KMUD service in the year we moved out here,” she said. “Six years ago my friends in the area asked if I would consider running and I won the election.”
“I did not win in the last election, but I enjoyed serving and I thought, while things were going well in our lives, I would.”
The only change she proposes for the board is a limit to the number of terms that directors can serve consecutively.
“Kingsland is a wonderful place,” she continued. “People have worked hard to make it what it is and I hope it stays where it is.”
Ailshie attended college in Odessa to earn a real estate license and she sold real estate for O.T. Caldwell in Granite Shoals and then for Sis Virdell after moving here.
In her previous term on the KMUD board, Ailshie served on the safety committee.
In three terms on the board, Willingham has served continually as secretary/treasurer. He also served on the safety committee and as chair of the investment committe.
He recently was elected as a Central Texas Trustee on the Association of Water Board Directors (AWBD), an organization comprising representatives from 32 water-related entities.
“I want to be here another four years,” said Willingham. “Kingsland is growing and KMUD is growing to serve it. We have been preparing for the future growth.
“We have bought land and, if we build a new treatment plant in the next four years, I’d sure like to be here for it.”
Willingham has spent 32 years in the insurance industry. Though he lives full-time in Kingsland now, he says he is no more than a phone call away from Willingham Insurance & Mortgage in Spring, Texas, operated day-to-day by his son and daughter.
He and his wife Sharon married in Crane County where he was reared. As a Navy seaman ,he was a communications technician. He served six years on the Odessa Police Force before beginning work which led to a position as an international sales manager for Chromolloy American Corp. an oilfield equipment company.
Willingham said he has called on his business experience as well as on experience on his Home Owner’s Association in Spring for the work. He is a member of the Kingsland Lions Club and First Baptist Church.
As a member of the AWBD, she serves as chair of the Legislative Planning Committee. She is on the Lower Colorado River Authority's Lake LBJ Advisory Panel.
Also on May 10 Llano voters will consider five candidates for three open seats on the Llano City Council. They are Mike Hazel, Ervin Light, Sarah Thompson, Mike Reagor and LaNell McKinney.
Mayor of the City of Sunrise Beach Village Pat Frain is unopposed May 10. Cindy Daly, appointed to fill the unexpired term of Jon Rodgers, will not seek re-election.
Candidates for the other two seats on the three-member Sunrise Beach City Sommission are incumbent Ray Fleming, Sherry Fern, Lou Henson and Carleen Pengg.