during an election night party at Taramore Mansion in Brentwood. / Jae S. Lee / The Tennessean
BRENTWOOD — With three positions open, a new face will sit on the Brentwood city commission while two incumbents were able to hold on to their seats.
In unofficial results, Mark Gorman, who has served on the city planning commission, was the top vote-getter after Tuesday’s Brentwood municipal election, with 2,434 ballots cast in his favor.
Long-time city commissioner Regina Smithson, who received 2,363 votes, will remain on the seven-member board along with Rhea Little, who goes into his second term with 1,961 votes.
Paul Webb, who served as mayor for the past two years, lost out on serving as a city commissioner again. He had 1,880 ballots. Also unable to win a seat were newcomers Jay Galbreath, who came in fourth at 1,919 votes, and Jason Richardson, who was last at 403 votes.
City commissioners serve four-year terms.
In all, 1,271 voters turned out Tuesday at the nine precinct polling sites. Although Election Day voters didn’t come out in waves, the two-week early voting period saw the highest turnout in more than eight years. In all, 2,979 early votes were cast, which is 10.4 percent of the 28,587 registered Brentwood voters.
“Early voting has really changed the electorate. It used to be pretty predictable with the numbers in the turnout on Election Day,” said County Election Commission Deputy Administrator Chad Gray.
With growth continuing to play a role in everything from traffic on the roadways to the enrollment of students in the county school system, there has been more interest in this election than in past years. Preserve Brentwood, a grass-roots group, has been a force in this election. It built on its successful opposition to a 950,000-square-foot, mixed-use development known as the Streets of Brentwood, proposed for the corner of Franklin Road and Maryland Way but withdrawn by developers in February.
Now in the group’s sights are changes to the current C-4 zoning district that allowed Tapestry, Brentwood’s first condominium project, to move forward. The group touts the traditional one-home-per-one-acre density.
On Monday, a new Brentwood mayor also will take the reins. That position isn’t chosen by residents, but selected among the sitting commissioners at the first regular meeting after each municipal election, which takes place every two years.
