Woody, Arbogast beat incumbents for Tryon council
Published 5:00 pm Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Tryon&squo;s election resulted in a big upset with both council incumbents being unseated.
Wim Woody was high vote getter in the council election with 180 votes or 26.55 percent.&bsp; Doug Arbogast also gained a seat with 174 votes, or 25.66 percent.
Incumbent Jim Scott lost his seat, trailing by 31 with 143 votes (21.09 percent). Also trailing were incumbent Dennis Durham, who had 103 votes (15.19 percent) and Seth Davis with 78 votes (11.5 percent).
Peoples retained his mayor seat with 248 votes. There were 28 write-in votes for Tryon mayor.
The results are all unofficial until the official canvas is done by the Polk County Board of Elections later this week.
The results in Tryon could mean changes in town. Woody is a strong supporter of rescinding the town&squo;s current involuntary annexation of parts of the Gillette Woods, Harmon Field and Country Club Road areas. The town is currently defending the annexation decision in a lawsuit brought by Citizens Against Forced Annexation.
Woody ran in 2007 on the same platform but lost by 4 votes.
Peoples, who splits tie votes on council, and current council member Roy Miller support the annexation, but current council member Austin Chapman does not.
Arbogast campaigned on revitalizing businesses downtown and said if the issue of annexation comes up he will weigh both sides and make a decision.
New members to council are normally sworn into office during the December council meeting.