Gunter City Council Ballot Still Has Open Seats in ‘Unprecedented Special Election’ Set For May 4

 Things just got even weirder in Gunter. 

We thought that this week we’d be bringing our readers a full slate of candidates vying for the five seats left open by Gunter City Council members who resigned in December. 

A Feb. 16 filing deadline has been posted on the City Hall door, but it turns out some of the seats were designated “expired vacancies,” while some were unexpired, allowing the filing deadline — for two of the five seats — to extend to March 4. 

Here are the new posted deadlines for Gunter City Council seats: 

• Feb. 16 at 5 p.m. – Deadline for Expired Vacancy Place 1, Place 3, and Place 5 
• Feb. 20 at 5 p.m. – Deadline for Expired Vacancy Write-In Place 1, Place 3, Place 5 
• March 4 at 5 p.m. – Deadline for Unexpired Vacancy Place 2 and Place 4 
• March 4 at 5 p.m. – Deadline for Unexpired Vacancy Write-In Place 2 and Place 4

The ballot for Places 1, 3, and 5 is locked in. Cyndy Davis (Place 1), David Self (Place 3), and William Stevens (Place 5) are running unopposed. All Gunter City Council members serve at-large, meaning they are not tied to a geographical district. 

CandysDirt.com filed an open records request Tuesday requesting the candidate filing paperwork for each of the five positions. We’ll reach out to the candidates and share their visions on how to get back to business and move the small town forward. 

City Secretary Detra Gaines said she would post a list of candidates March 5 once all filing deadlines have passed. A sample ballot will be provided by Grayson County next month.

The new deadlines, based on the circumstance that some of the seats were unexpired vacancies, were confirmed by the Secretary of State’s Office late Friday afternoon, Gaines said. 

“I couldn’t post any of that until I had 100 percent confirmation from the Secretary of State,” she said. 

City Secretary: ‘Everything About This Has Never Happened’

Detra Gaines has been the Gunter city secretary for about seven years but has lived in the community her whole life. 

Gaines and many in the Gunter community were stunned when Mayor Pro Tem Spencer Marks and council members Larry Peters, Patsy Whitaker, Cheryl Cohagan, and Connie Eubanks submitted their resignations last year after a polarizing conflict related to a contract with BNSF Railroad. 

Doing business in the Grayson County community has slowed since the resignations because some decisions can’t be made without a quorum of elected officials. 

The special election is the first of its kind in Gunter’s 100-year history, and Gaines said she wanted to make sure the “T’s are crossed and I’s are dotted.” 

“Everything about this has never happened,” she told CandysDirt.com. “I’ve never seen anything like this.” 

The write-in deadlines don’t make much sense, Gaines added. Candidates who choose that option can only nominate themselves. They still have to fill out the paperwork, and their names are placed at the bottom of the ballot, Gaines said. 

“You’re not even part of the drawing process,” she said. 

February City Council Meeting

The Gunter City Council meets monthly on the third Thursday of the month. Mayor Karen Souther was the only elected official to show up at the January meeting, following the resignations. 

Some of the five resigned council members attended a City Council meeting last week. Former Mayor Pro Tem Spencer Marks didn’t show and Connie Eubanks walked out during the proceedings, city officials said. Gunter City Council meetings are not streamed online and no minutes have been posted for the Feb. 15 meeting. 

Mayor Souther, who took the oath of office in May, said she’s hopeful about the upcoming election.

“I’m actually very excited about getting back to the people’s work,” Souther said. “I think we have great candidates running. These are people who attend meetings … They’re for the City of Gunter. These are people who want things to change. They want good government. They want transparency. We had a council who didn’t listen to the people. They did everything in executive session and in secrecy. Everybody running is excited about doing things together and with the people. They want to be part of the community discussing what Gunter does moving forward. It’s what the people want.” 

A press release about the upcoming council elections describes Gunter as a “unique community committed to preserving its history, maintaining a high quality of life, supporting a vibrant business community, and cultivating environmental sensitivity.” 

“The city is steeped in a rich historical past and is emerging as a vital community committed to excellence, innovation, and sound fiscal policies,” the press release states. “Our neighborhoods are safe, healthy, and as unique as their inhabitants.”