Chris Coursey, John Sawyer, Tom Schwedhelm elected to Santa Rosa council

A former newspaper columnist, a past councilman and a retired police chief won seats on the Santa Rosa City Council Tuesday evening.

Election results released by the county Registrar of Voters Office show former Press Democrat columnist Chris Coursey in first place with 19.8 percent of the vote, jewelry store manager and two-term councilman John Sawyer in second with 15.7 percent of the vote, and Santa Rosa Police Chief Tom Schwedhelm holding on to third place with 15.4 percent.

Early election results representing only mail-in ballots counted by Tuesday changed only slightly as they were combined with poll results trickling in throughout the evening.

Gathered with supporters at Carmen’s Burger Bar, Coursey said the race had been “exhilarating and exhausting at the same time.” He said he hadn’t been expecting to be the highest vote getter but was thrilled with early results.

“I think it shows that the voters were looking for change, and that if you look at the names on the ballot, I’m the biggest change that was offered to the voters of Santa Rosa,” he said.

Sawyer and Schwedhelm monitored the results from the union hall of city firefighters on South E Street. Both expressed frustration at the slow pace of updates following the initial returns, but supporters assured them early results were likely to hold up.

“I’m looking forward to the opportunity to do what I said I would do, and that’s make a positive change for the City of Santa Rosa,” Schwedhelm said.

Sawyer, who served two terms on the council from 2004 to 2012 before running unsuccessfully for county supervisor, said he was pleased and honored that voters would return him to the council.

Relative newcomer Ashle Crocker, a planning commissioner and land use attorney, was in fourth place, with 14.3 percent of the vote. Her campaign consultant, Nick Caston, said early in the evening that if she could pull within 1 percentage point of Schwedhelm, she might have a shot at closing the gap once late mail-in-ballots are counted.

As of early Wednesday, with 74 of 74 precincts reporting, Crocker remained 816 votes behind Schwedhelm.

Curtis Byrd, a minister and spokesman at a local blood bank, came in fifth place with 12.4 percent, and former Councilman Lee Pierce, the government affairs manager at a local recycling company, came in sixth, with 10.7 percent.

All three leading candidates said they looked forward to building relationships with one another and getting past the distrust and dysfunction that has come to define city politics in recent years.

“The campaign ends today and the work to repair these things begins tomorrow,” Coursey said.

Sawyer, who had a frosty relationship with Councilman Gary Wysocky during his time on the council, said he hoped the tone on the council, with some patience and optimism, could improve.

“I can work with anybody,” Sawyer said. “You need time for healing, and that has to come from all sides.”

Several people have expressed hope that even if the council remains philosophically divided, the new city manager, Sean McGlynn, will find ways to help them work better together to achieve their goals without the public sniping that constituents have tired of.

The council is likely to continue to remain polarized on at least one issue, however - funding for public safety.

Schwedhelm and Sawyer are expected to be strongly supportive of the city’s police and fire departments and continued funding levels for them. Both were endorsed by police and fire unions.

Coursey, meanwhile, has been vocal about the need to revise the 2004 public safety sales tax Measure O and restore what he says is needed balance to the city budget. He was actively opposed by the firefighters, who paid for robocalls attacking Coursey as wanting to “make Santa Rosa a more dangerous place to live.”

Coursey called that an “outrageous lie” and urged voters to back him as someone who isn’t “beholden to public safety unions.” Many observers said they felt the robocalls had backfired.

“They really turned me off,” said 58-year-old Penny Hoyle as she voted Tuesday afternoon in Bennett Valley. The sales manager at a publishing firm labeled the calls “slimy” and said they turned her against some of the candidates the firefighters endorsed.

She said she received several calls from firefighters, none of which gave her the chance to opt out of future calls as required by city law, she said. Union officials have blamed their vendor and added the opt out for some calls. Coursey has filed a complaint with the city over the calls.

Schwedhelm has stood out as the strongest proponent of Measure O, arguing that the city’s public safety spending is not out of balance compared to other communities. He said he welcomes an honest debate about whether Measure O needs to be updated, and lamented that opinions that have expressed without full understanding of the tax’s history.

“The public is owed some facts,” Schwedhelm said.

Specifically, Schwedhelm said it’s untrue that the measure’s backer in 2004 “accidentally” added language that created an ever-increasing baseline funding level that has been much criticized.

Three candidates who either don’t live in Santa Rosa or didn’t actively campaign were non-competitive in the race. Colleen Fernald of Sebastopol received 4.7 percent, Chucker Sims received 3.5 percent, and Wikiup resident Keith Rhinehart received 3.5 percent.

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin McCallum at 521-5207 or kevin.mccallum@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @srcitybeat.