The first week of early voting for the city of San Juan runoff elections wrapped Saturday with a total of 1,827 ballots cast, as candidates in three races identified infrastructure and tax issues among their primary concerns.
A total of 1,784 ballots were cast at the San Juan Memorial Library during the five days of early voting, and 43 mail-in ballots were received. Early voting will continue Monday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and end Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
All three races in the May 1 city elections resulted in runoff elections since none of the candidates received more than 50% of the vote.
Mayor Mario Garza is seeking reelection and is being challenged by former Place 3 Commissioner Jesus “Jesse” Ramirez. In the May election, Garza received a total of 1,152 votes while Ramirez received 782 votes. Former Commissioner Pete Garcia received a total of 646 votes.
Garza is remaining optimistic heading into the June 12 runoff, and plans to continue his focus on keeping the city streets clean.
“My platform is still the same,” Garza said. “My focus is to continue — hopefully our citizens give me another four years if elected.”
Lowering property taxes and instituting bi-weekly trash pickup are among Garza’s goals if reelected, as well as addressing brush pickup.
“I’m looking into figuring out where we can purchase more grappler trucks to put them to work and continue cleaning our city,” Garza added. The incumbent mayor said he has heard from constituents who did not vote in the May 1 election, and are planning to participate in the runoff election.
“We’re focused,” Garza said. “We want to continue the progress in our great city of San Juan. Obviously there’s a lot of things happening. Not only that, there’s future plans coming into our community.”
Ramirez said he was pleased with the results of the May 1 election.
He still believes that lowering taxes is feasible, but he also addressed concerns from constituents about trash collecting.
“The last time we spoke, we mentioned lowering taxes, which is still a goal. I’m sure we can do it,” Ramirez said. “The other thing that has come up in talking to the residents is trash pickup. One of the things that my slate has considered is that we cannot pick up trash twice a week, the way residents are asking.” Ramirez suggested providing residents with an additional trash receptacle at no cost in order to address the large amount of waste in the city.
“That’s basically their concern — that they get overfilled and they don’t have anywhere to dump it,” Ramirez said. “If we provide an extra container at no additional cost, maybe that in turn will help out and also alleviate the extra expense on fuel in having to go dump at the county dump site.”
PLACE 2
The runoff election for the Place 2 seat on the commission has come down to incumbent Ernesto “Neto” Guajardo, who had a total of 968 votes during the May 1 election, and R.C. Flores, who had a total of 994 votes. Laura Martinez received 617 votes.
Guajardo said he hopes ongoing vaccinations means more people will come out to vote in the runoff. He also said San Juan is experiencing a period of business growth, but added that the city should focus on street repairs.
“I know that we have some projects that I cannot disclose of,” Guajardo said. “We are growing, but there are other things that we can do not only because business is booming, but because we are leaving the people behind. We’re leaving a lot of the streets that have not been done yet.”
The incumbent commissioner said that lowering taxes in the city was not something that could be easily accomplished.
“I think it’s hard to lower taxes,” Guajardo said. “If there’s a way, we probably could do it. If we take a penny off, probably the appraisal district is going to pick it up. Just leave it the way it is. Because business is booming, we’re getting a little bit more tax revenue. Now it’s time to help the people.”
PLACE 3
Ramirez’s former seat on the city commission saw Nickie Ybarra, Adina “Dina” Santillan and Eddie Alaniz vying for the Place 3 spot. Ybarra led the race with 992 votes to Santillan’s 858 and Alaniz’s 712 in the May 1 election.
Santillan said that in speaking with residents throughout the city, maintaining the city streets appears to be the biggest concern.
There are areas of the city that have had sweepings, and there are other areas that still need sweepings,” Santillan said. “We want to address those streets that still need sweeping. We want to address the safety that comes with it, which is making sure the lights are still functioning properly. Even the new streets that have been repaved, some of them don’t have speed bumps for safety within neighborhoods. Obviously safety within all aspects is our number one concern.”
Santillan, who is the daughter of former Place 3 Commissioner Jose Luis Santillan, said that she draws inspiration from her father, but she hopes to make a name for herself on the city commission.
“My dad is an awesome person, of course he’s an awesome dad, but I’m my own person too,” Santillan said. “I have to run on my own goals and my own platforms.”
Attempts to gain comment from R.C. Flores and Nickie Ybarra were unsuccessful as of press time.
Election Day is Saturday, June 12, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Voters will be able to cast their ballots at two locations on Election Day — San Juan Fire Station No. 2, located at 2301 N. Raul Longoria Road, and the San Juan Memorial Library.
