Politics & Government
Batchelor, Bird & Castanon Celebrate Victories; Measure N Goes Down
Michael Ceremello was the runner-up in the mayoral race and Ted Hickman came in just behind the two winning council candidates. Some votes have yet to be counted.
On a night in which confetti rained down upon newly re-elected President Obama and his family, candidates in Dixon celebrated as well.
With some mail-in and provisional ballots still to be counted, Dixon voters selected:
- For mayor: Jack Batchelor, Jr.
- For two seats on the city council: Steve Bird and Jerry Castanon
- Measure N: No
The controversial Measure N went down to defeat with a preliminary vote of 3,039 to 1,351.
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In the nearly-final count for the mayor, Jack Batchelor emerged as the clear winner, with 2,479 votes compared to Mike Ceremello’s 1,075 and Steve Alexander’s 824.
Surrounded by family and friends in his home on Fountain Way, Batchelor said, “I believe the citizens believe I’ve done a good job as mayor … and believe I can move the city forward as I’ve done over the past four years.”
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He said he was getting a greater percentage of the vote than the last time he ran for mayor.
The top priorities for his next term of office are keeping a balanced budget, maintaining public safety, providing services to citizens such as parks, and dealing with wastewater and Solano Irrigation District (SID) water issues. He’s taking a wait-and-see attitude before making a decision about taking over water delivery from SID.
He says he would also like to see the Parkway Boulevard railroad overpass constructed.
The current city council, Batchelor said, “made some tough decisions (but) it took us a little time.” The new council, he feels, “ … will want to keep Dixon a nice, safe community to raise their children.”
As far as Measure N, he says he would be open to looking at a revised Sunshine Ordinance down the road.
“There are some provisions in there that I can support,” Batchelor said. He said he would prefer to see an ordinance that could be presented to the city council for approval.
Batchelor credits his wife Mary Lou with being an astute campaign manager.
In the city council race, Steve Bird was the top candidate with a near-final 2,387 votes, followed by Jerry Castanon, Sr. with 1,571 votes – making these two the new members on the city council. They were followed by Ted Hickman with 1,360, Drew Graska with 1,154, Ian Arnold with 865, and Yaqinah Abdurrahman with 212 votes.
"I knew I had built up all these relationships with people (as a police officer and community member)," Steve Bird told the Vacaville Reporter. "It's overwhelming."
Stopping by the Batchelor house was winning city council candidate Jerry Castanon, Sr. and his wife, Anna Lisa.
Castanon says he became one of the top vote-getters by knocking on a lot of doors, using phone banks, and distributing much campaign literature. When he was campaigning on the streets, he said, people would tell him what they wanted to see in Dixon. “You get answers you may not want to hear,” he said. “It’s important to hear them out.”
Asked if he would be open to a future changed Sunshine Ordinance, Castanon said, “Absolutely. If there was something that needed to be done, I’m all for it, because Dixon has never had anything to hide.” He said that in connection with building projects, Dixon has always given him whatever he wanted.
He also said he was pleased that President Obama was re-elected, especially since he feels Republicans have been anti-union.
His priorities for Dixon are core-area storm-water drainage, resolving the SID water-supply issue, and making sure that the police and firemen have enough personnel and equipment to guarantee public safety.
In the city council race, candidate Ms. Yaqinah Abdurrahman received the fewest number of votes (212). Reached at her home by phone, Abdurrahman, a fairly new Dixon resident, described the feedback she received from residents while running for office:
“A lot of people wished me good luck,” she said. However, “A lot of people didn’t think I was real … (and some thought my candidacy) was a prank … An African-American female running for council.”
But now, she said, “People know my name. … It was a great opportunity for people to get to know me.”
She congratulated the winners in the council race, saying it “is a great opportunity to serve their community.”
In one other Solano Country vote of interest, Measure Q, the Solano Community College bond issue, was winning by approximately 27,000 votes early Wednesday morning.
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