Fairfield Middle School bond vote falls short; Boyer reelected mayor

The Fairfield Community School District’s effort to pass a bond for a new middle school has come up short once again.

Voters in the district went to the polls Tuesday, Nov. 4 to decide whether to pass a $39.5 million general obligation bond to build a new middle school south of the current building. The “yes” side received about 56 percent of the vote, but needed to get over 60 percent to pass.

The unofficial tally released by the Jefferson County Auditor’s Office Tuesday night showed 2,029 “yes” votes to 1,604 “no” votes. The election results do not become official until canvassed by the Board of Supervisors.

The 56 percent approval this year’s attempt received is slightly lower than a similar bond for a new middle school on the ballot last year, which received 58 percent of the vote.

In the only contested race in the city of Fairfield, voters put their stamp of approval for a fourth term on Mayor Connie Boyer, who defeated challenger and current Fairfield City Council member Douglas Flournoy 65 percent to 30 percent. Boyer received 1,541 votes to Flournoy’s 714. Rhonda Sanderson was the other name on the ballot running for mayor, and she received 81 votes, 3.4 percent of the total.

Upon learning the results, Boyer said she felt “truly humbled by the support and very appreciative.”

“Thank you to everyone for getting out and voting to support their candidate,” she told The Union. “I look forward to working as a team, completing many projects that are in progress and improving our fair city.”

With Flournoy’s election defeat, he will be exiting the council at the end of the year because he will have to give up his at-large seat on the council. Bob Ferguson won an uncontested race to fill Flournoy’s at-large seat during Tuesday’s elections.

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Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com