Wellington voters elect new mayor

By JoAn Bjarko
North Forty News

Wellington voters on April 6 put a new mayor in office, electing Travis Vieira with 60 percent of ballots cast.

Voters also re-elected incumbent town board members Travis Stevens (299 votes) and Mike Steely (248 votes) and put a newcomer to town politics, Ernest Cienfuegos-Baca (285 votes), on the board.

The 407 voters who cast ballots in the municipal election represented an 11 percent voter turnout. Wellington has 3,633 residents registered to vote.

Vieira, who has served as a town board member for four years, tallied 246 votes to the 160 votes for two-term mayor Larry Noel. Vieira, 37, is assistant manager at Main Street Market. Noel, 54, is a real estate broker and developer. The election loss ends Noel's 17 years of service on the town board.

The mayor and board members serve four-year terms. The mayor earns $1,300 a year. Town trustee is an unpaid position. The town board meets on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month at the Leeper Center.