Manhattan Beach City Council, School Board Elections Finalized
Dec 01, 2020 02:56PM ● By Jeanne Fratello
The Manhattan Beach city council and school board races were tight up until the end. However, with the certification from L.A. County on November 30, Joe Franklin officially clinched the third seat on city council and Jason Boxer won the second seat on the school board.
Franklin Wins by 88 Votes
In the race for Manhattan Beach City Council, Franklin edged out Grettel Fournell for the third seat. The vote count showed Franklin with 7,887 votes
(14.90%) and Fournell with 7,799 votes (14.74%), a difference of just 88
votes.
Franklin will join incumbents Steve Napolitano and Richard Montgomery, who both won re-election with large margins. Napolitano and Montgomery earned 12,245 and 10,185 votes, respectively.
"I’m pleased, honored and humbled
at the amount of support I’ve received in this election," Franklin told DigMB. "I want to thank
the residents of Manhattan Beach who put their trust in me with their
votes. There are so many amazing and caring fellow residents to thank
who unselfishly gave their time, energy and creativity to make this
happen. It’s an honor to serve with fellow Councilmembers Steve
Napolitano, Richard Montgomery, Hildy Stern. and Suzanne Hadley who are
also my friends.
"I will work tirelessly with them and our diligent city staff to help our city get through this crisis. This is my highest priority," continued Franklin. "This
includes helping our schools and associated activities, in any way we
can on Council, get open in a safe manner. The same goes with our
restaurants and businesses as we learn just how valuable and essential
they are to the fabric of our city.
Franklin added: "Our
older adults are feeling isolated and need to be able to safely go
about their daily lives as do the families with school age children. With
everyone pulling together, looking out and caring for each other like I
have seen during my 36 years living in Manhattan Beach, we can soon
find ourselves safely on the other side of this crisis."
The new council will be seated on December 15, with Napolitano, Montgomery, and Franklin joining councilmembers Suzanne Hadley and Hildy Stern.
Boxer Maintains Lead to Secure School Board Seat
In the race for two seats on the Manhattan Beach Unified School District's school board, Cathey Graves had held a large lead over the field of four from the beginning and Boxer maintained a slim lead for the second-most votes over Mike Brunick.
The November 30 vote count made it official. Graves and Boxer will take the two open seats, having won 10,265 votes and 7,693 votes, respectively.
The final count showed Boxer with 309 votes over Mike Brunick, who landed in third place with 7,384 votes.
The new board will be seated on December 15.
