Cage, Frintz and Elkins win contested races for Southeast New Mexico College board
Eddy County residents chose the first Board of Trustees for the Southeast New Mexico College on Tuesday.
Mark Cage won the District 1 seat with 493 votes — the most votes cast for any of the candidates of the board. Cage, who also serves as Eddy County's elected Sheriff, ran against Doris Carlton who received 115 votes out of the 608 votes cast in the race.
"I feel extremely blessed to see how many folks who feel that I am the one they want to represent them on the college board," Cage said as the results came in. "Congrats to everyone who stepped up to run in this very important local election. We all win when we have this much passion and participation in our local issues."
Replay: Southeast New Mexico Community College board candidates forum
Cage also thanked Carleton for running.
"I told her at the candidate forum that I felt confident the board would be in good hands whichever one of us won the election," he said.
Tiffany Frintz won District 3 with 264 out of the 448 votes cast in the race. David Rogers received 136 votes and Joy Foster received 48 votes, losing the contest seat to Frintz.
Foster suspended her campaign in September but was not able to officially withdraw from the race in time for the deadline
Frintz thanked her supporters including her husband Bart.
"I would like to share my sincerest appreciation to our amazing community, and for everyone who came out to vote," Frintz said. "I am humbled by this opportunity and am going to do my best to serve our hometown. Thank you to all the candidates for a great campaign. We are blessed to have such qualified people willing to serve."
Ned Elkins won the race for District 5 with 370 of 794 votes cast in the race. His opponent Fran McCarthy garnered 301 votes and Norbert Rempe received 123 votes.
“I will give it everything I’ve got,” Elkins said. “If I am going to be a part of something it’s going to get the very best I’ve got so all my efforts will go to make this successful.”
Elkins said the board has a lot of work ahead of them and said they cannot underestimate some of the challenges they will face such as managing financial systems and setting up communicational links between the staff and administration.
Bill Murrill, District 2, and Sarah Jo Bowman, District 4, were unopposed. Murrill received 180 votes. Bowman received 214 votes.
"I have and will continue to advocate for staff, faculty, and students as we begin to lay the foundation for SENM College," Bowman said.
Voters cast 4,406 ballots in the nonpartisan local election. Members of the board will serve a term of six years, but first these candidates will have staggered terms of 2 and 4 years as the first elected board.
All results are non-official until Eddy County can perform a canvass of the election.
Electing the Board of Trustees was the next step for New Mexico State University Carlsbad's to transition to an independent college. The transition is the result of an effort to regain local control of the college organized by the Carlsbad Mayor's Higher Education Task Force.
The board will be responsible for making decisions for SENMC and providing oversight. It will also be responsible for hiring a college president and managing an at least $40 million budget.
More Education News: Higher Learning Commission discusses transition to SENMC
Claudia Silva is a reporter from the UNM Local Reporting Fellowship. She can be reached at csilva2@currentargus.com, by phone at 575-628-5506 or on Twitter @thewatchpup.
This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: Hundreds of votes cast to elect Board of Trustees for new college
