Three Newberry seats at stake in city election

NEWBERRY – Half of the City of Newberry’s elected government could be new after the April 8 election.

Three of five city commission seats are being contested in what Mayor Bill Conrad – whose seat is not on the ballot – calls a very important election.

“We need voters to turn out on Tuesday, April 8,” Conrad said in an e-mail response.

“The new commission will be hiring a city manager, a fire chief and a utility director, decisions that will have a big impact on the city’s future. We need to have commissioners who are up to the challenge.”

No other elections or issues will be on the ballot according to Conrad.

Citizens can vote on Election Day from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Newberry Fire Station at 310 NW 250^th Street.

A candidate forum will be held a week before the election at Newberry City Hall on Tuesday, April 1 from 7 to 9 p.m. City Hall is located at 25440 West Newberry Road.

The mayor and five commissioners serve two-year terms, with three seats up for election every year. Candidates are placed into three groups for each election.

Two of the groups feature incumbents, with Commissioner Joe Hoffman running against Ricky Coleman in Group One and Commissioner Alena King Lawson facing Monty Farnsworth in Group Three.

The Group Two race offers two new candidates – Barbara Hendrix and Jason McGehee – for the seat being vacated by Commissioner Lois Forte.

Hoffman, owner of Hoffman Construction, has served on the commission since 2002. His Group One opponent, Coleman, is a property appraiser for Alachua County.

The Group Two race features another 2012 commission candidate in Hendrix, who is Executive Director of the Newberry Main Street Program, against newcomer McGehee, a small business owner.

Group Three pits Lawson, an investigator for the Public Defender’s office and first elected to the commission in 2001, against her opponent from the 2012 City Election, Farnsworth, a longtime nurse who has also previously served as a commissioner.

Commission seats not involved in this election are those held by Commissioners Tim Marden and Jordan Marlowe, as well as the position of mayor. Those will be determined by election in 2015.

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