Councilman wins contest for mayor - Blanscet says priorities include seniors' center
The Dallas Morning News - Sunday, May 8, 1994
Author: Veronica Alaniz, Staff Writer of The Dallas Morning News

CARROLLTON - City Council member Gary Blanscet was elected mayor of Carrollton on Saturday night. He succeeds Milburn Gravley, who had held the post for 12 years.

With all 29 precincts reporting, Mr. Blanscet received 1,694 votes, or just over 51 percent of the ballots cast in a

four-candidate race. David Oldfield, an insurance agency owner and former council member, was second with 42 percent of the vote.

"You never know what its going to be until the vote comes in. I'm surprised and pleased," Mr. Blanscet said.

Michael Goetz and Charles Ford Hamilton trailed far behind in the race to succeed Mr. Gravley, who decided not to seek a seventh term.

Despite the open mayor's seat, the race has not been

contentious. Candidates said they have similar stances on key issues such as increasing economic development efforts and providing more services for youths and senior citizens.

"We both wanted to be very sure there wasn't going to be any division in the city as a result of our mayor's race. We didn't want any negativism that was going to leave any scars," said Mr. Blanscet, who added that he expected a close race.

Mr. Oldfield said he congratulated his opponent and told him "we were friends before and we'd be friends afterward."

"We pretty much had the same issues in mind, and it was just a matter of a style of leadership," Mr. Oldfield said. "He's been on the council for four terms. I got out in 1989 and apparently not enough people remembered me."

Mr. Blanscet, who labeled himself a conservative

consensus-builder, said the main difference between him and Mr. Oldfield was management style.

"I'm non-autocratic who uses the team work approach. . . . I like to mediate and reconcile differences," he said. "Mr. Oldfield comes from the marketing school. He's more willing to push and pull than find a consensus."

Mr. Blanscet, who has served on the council since 1986, also said he would be able to make the transition to the mayor's job easier because he would provide more continuity.

Mr. Blanscet said he is ready to move ahead on development of a senior citizens' center and major hotel in the city.

"We have our work cut out for us. We have a very energetic and enthusiastic council that is ready to roll up their sleeves and go to work," he said.

In other city races, Bert Colter appeared to be the winner over Charles Thrasher for the council Place 2 seat, and James Schouten was the apparent winner over Stan Hampton for Place 4. Linda Caldwell was elected without opposition.