May Election Cycle Produces No Contested Park Cities Races

The May election cycle didn’t produce contested races for Park Cities school and municipal races.

The Feb. 14 deadline to get on the May 2 ballot passed with only one candidate running for each available seat.

Still, University Park will get a new mayor and council member while Highland Park will get two new council members.

(Note: No write-in candidates filed)

Highland Park

The Town Council will change with John McKnight and Eric Gambrell not returning.
Newcomers Lydia Novakov, 70, a community volunteer, and Marc Myers, 73, who works in real estate, filed for seats along with incumbents David Dowler, 72, a portfolio manager; Jimmy Grisham, 62, a real estate professional; and Craig Penfold, 77, an attorney. Incumbent Margo Goodwin, 74, is the lone person to file for mayor.

University Park

Tommy Stewart, 78, the lone person seeking to replace outgoing Mayor Olin Lane Jr., works as a developer and general contractor.

Mark Aldredge, 67, CEO of L.H. Lacy, also would be a new face on the council.

Incumbents who filed include Randy Biddle, 66, an attorney; Liz Farley, 50, a registered nurse; and Gage Prichard, 83, a consultant.

HPSID

Incumbents Stacy Kelly and Tom Sharpe are running again for Places 6 and 7 on the Highland Park ISD board of trustees.

Kelly, 55, was first elected to the board in 2017. She works as an independent healthcare contractor and an adjunct professor for the SMU Cox Business Leadership Center.

Sharpe, 45, was also first elected to the board in 2017. He’s vice president of Compatriot Capital Inc., a real estate investment and operating company.

Rachel Snyder

Rachel Snyder, former deputy editor at People Newspapers, joined the staff in 2019, returning to her native Dallas-Fort Worth after starting her career at community newspapers in Oklahoma. One of her stories won first place in its category in the Oklahoma Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest in 2018. She’s a fan of puns and community journalism, not necessarily in that order.

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