By Fallan Patterson
Staff Writer

Voters came out in Osceola County Tuesday not only to choose who will run the country but also to decide on smaller but no less important offices such as seats on the Kissimmee City Commission, St. Cloud City Council and Osceola County School Board.

Jose Alvarez beat out opponent Dave Scherer for seat 1 on the Kissimmee City Commission, with 60 percent, or 10,480 ballots cast to Scherer’s 6,942 votes or 40 percent. Seat 1 is currently held by Vice Mayor Art Otero, who ran for State House District 43.

“I feel very humbled that the Kissimmee voters trusted in me to give me my victory. We ran a grassroots campaign and we feel really good,” Alvarez said, adding his focus will be on helping the small, existing businesses in the city as well as to promote job growth.

Additionally, with 59 percent of the vote, or 10,042 ballots cast, Sara Shaw took seat 3 on the Kissimmee City Commission against Mike DeLong, who garnered 6,918 votes, or 41 percent.

Shaw, hoarse from campiagning and celebrating her victory, said she was tired but elated about her

win.

"I want to say thank you to everyone who helped out with my campaign and everyone who supported me and believed in me. It was a lot of hard work but it paid off," she said. "I would encourgae people in our community to get involved and I'm looking forward to serving my community."

Seat 3 is currently held by Jerry Gemskie, who lost out on his bid for County Commission District 1, held by Michael Harford.
In St. Cloud, Mayor Rebecca Borders retained her position for a second term against former councilman Jarom Fertic. Borders garnered 65.6 percent of the vote to Fertic’s 34.4 percent.
“I appreciate the citizens having such a vote of confidence in me to vote the way they did,” she said, adding she is focused on changing or improving impact fees to help current and future businesses plus she still wants to see a farmers market open in the city. “We have a lot of irons in the fire.”
Just over 9,000 voters picked Borders over Fertic, who earned 4,722 votes.
For St. Cloud City Council Seat 2, Jeff Rinehart earned 54.93 percent (6,983 voters) of the vote to Ron Caswell’s 45.07 percent (5,729 voters).
Rinehart was unavailable for comment before deadline.
Seat 3 will head to a run-off in December between incumbent Russell Holmes and former councilman Jay Polachek.
To outright win the seat, the winner needed 50 percent plus one vote. Holmes had the lead with 38.85 percent (4,929 votes) of the vote while Polachek was slightly behind with 33.75 percent (4,278 votes).
Polachek said he knows he has his work cut out for him to get voters to the polls again in December for the run-off but plans to get back on the campaign trail Wednesday with 100 percent commitment.
“The voters of St. Cloud spoke loud and clear tonight. They want a smaller government, someone who is not a rubber stamp and someone who is proactive and I’m that person,” he said.
Holmes said he was hoping to save taxpayers the estimated $25,000 price tag the run-off election will cost but is encouraged that despite voter turnout historically decreasing for such an election, Holmes expects the voters who do turn out to be well educated on city issues.
“We’re getting re-energized and moving forward,” Holmes said about his renewed campaign. “We have to get people to realize there is a run-off.”
The third candidate, Cecil “Pete” Jones earned 27.43 percent (3,480 votes) of the vote.
Kelvin Soto won the School Board District 2 race with 52 percent, or 9.810 votes, against John Ramirez, who earned 48 percent, or 8,984 votes.
Soto expressed gratitude to his supporters for teaching him so much during the campaign.

"We took this journey together; figuring things out as we went along. Last Tuesday, the voters validated our hard work," Soto said Thursday. "There is more to do ahead and with your support and the support of our communities we shall improve our schools and the education of our youth."