We want to congratulate the winners in Tuesday’s local election, and pat voters on the back for going to the polls, as some important decisions were made, and not just for candidates.

We welcome political veteran Frank Attkisson to the Osceola County Commission and we congratulate John Quiñones on his re-election.

Congratulations also to political newcomer Rebecca Borders, St. Cloud’s new mayor, and to Russell Holmes on his election to seat 3. Kudos to Tom Griffin for garnering a majority to avoid a run-off.

We also congratulate Tom Long in his upset of incumbent John McKay for the district 5 School Board seat.

Congratulations also to political newcomer Wanda Rentas who won her run-off for a seat on the Kissimmee City Commission.

As Osceola County government moves forward with a new county commissioner, it will have to find ways to build new roads and improve others without the 1 percent sales surtax, which voters soundly rejected. It looks like most major road projects will have to be put on hold unless some other source of revenue is established.

The county also now has a new economic development tool in place – it can offer property tax exemptions to businesses that generate new jobs through capital expansion.  

This election has not been without its twists, turns and surprises. A few examples:

• Two Osceola County Commission candidates in the same race were given voter lists for the wrong district. The error prompted the no-party candidate to file a complaint with the Florida Commission on Ethics against the supervisor of elections and her staff, claiming the error was deliberate. Also, the district 2 and district 4 commission races may have been the most expensive ever in terms of the dollars spent per vote cast in single-member districts by certain candidates.

• A last-minute third-party mailer sent out by an electioneering communications organization and paid for by the local supporters of an incumbent injected party politics into a nonpartisan race.

• And finally, the ugliness in the district 79 Florida House race between two Republicans became apparent just before the Aug. 24 primary with a Truth Matters third-party mailer that had erroneous information about candidate Thomas Chalifoux Jr. That candidate followed up with a libel/defamation lawsuit against Mike Horner, who said he had nothing to do with the mailer.