Coppell Chronicle Vol. 4, No. 11
Voters Choose Premkumar and Bentley • Nearly 700 Homeowners Seek Rehab Grants • City to Explore Digital Signage Along Roads • Coppell ISD Athletes Get Good Grades
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Voters Choose Premkumar and Bentley
All of the ballots have been cast in our municipal elections, and all of the votes have been tabulated. Let’s check the results!
City of Coppell
The second time was the charm for Ramesh Premkumar, as it has been for other Coppell City Council candidates lately.
A year after losing to Jim Walker, Premkumar had a much better showing against a different planning and zoning commissioner. Premkumar secured 59 percent of the votes to Freddie Guerra’s 41 percent. Guerra prevailed in only one of the city’s 13 precincts (Precinct 2803, which is south of Sandy Lake Road between Moore Road and Mockingbird Lane). That earns Premkumar the right to fulfill the remainder of John Jun’s term; Jun will formally resign from the City Council next week because he is a candidate for the Texas House of Representatives.
In 2023, Premkumar earned only 38 percent of the votes in his race against Walker. That was Walker’s second bid for the council, after he lost to Jun in 2020. And Jun’s victory in that COVID-delayed election followed his loss to Biju Mathew in 2018. This is starting to look like a trend.
If Guerra chooses to try again, he’ll have to wait until 2026, because Coppell City Council elections skip every third year. Two years from now, the seats held by Don Carroll, Mark Hill, Premkumar, and Walker will be on the ballot.
Coppell ISD
Nichole Bentley won a third term on the Board of Trustees in a landslide, earning 82 percent of the votes to Eneida Padró’s 18 percent. Bentley was unchallenged the first time she sought reelection three years ago. In 2018, she won an open seat by capturing 61 percent of the votes in a competition with Lynne Ryan and some bald bozo who likes to send mass emails.
One year from now, the seats held by Anthony Hill, Manish Sethi, and Leigh Walker will be on the ballot.
City of Irving
Irving voters overwhelmingly said no to a $200 million bond proposition that would have funded construction of a new City Hall. The measure was rejected by 73 percent of voters.
Al Zapanta has represented the north end of Irving on the City Council since 2018. His bid for a third term was more closely contested than I would have thought. When the early vote totals were posted shortly after the polls closed last night, Zapanta and challenger Khalid Khan were running neck and neck. In fact, Khan was leading by four votes. But a lot of Zapanta’s supporters must be procrastinators, because he captured 64 percent of the votes cast on Election Day, giving him 56 percent of the votes overall. That’s good news for those of us who like to hear Zapanta drop cryptic hints about when H-E-B might open a store in Coppell ISD.
Meanwhile, Dennis Webb easily secured a second term in his at-large seat on the council. He captured 65 percent of the votes in his contest against Khaleel Ahmed.
In 2025, the council’s other at-large seat will be on the ballot; it’s held by Brad LaMorgese.
Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD
Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD, which includes portions of Coppell and Irving, uses a system called cumulative voting. Rather than running for a specific seat, all candidates compete against each other in a game of musical chairs. And if there are two seats on the ballot — as there were this year — then each voter gets two votes, and you can vote for the same candidate twice.
Cassandra Hatfield secured a second term by winning 29 percent of the votes in her competition with three challengers. The seat held by Sally Derrick, who declined to run again, will go to Marjorie Barnes, who earned 26 percent of the votes. Luis Palomo (25 percent) and Paul Gilmore (20 percent) were left standing without chairs.
The seats occupied by Kim Brady, Tara Hrbacek, and Ileana Garza-Rojas will be on the ballot a year from now.
City of Lewisville
Voters in Lewisville — which overlaps with Coppell ISD — were considering four bond propositions with a total value of $263.4 million. All four of them were approved, with levels of support ranging from 69 percent to 79 percent.
TJ Gilmore secured a second term as Lewisville’s mayor despite having three challengers: Alexander Davis, Winston Edmondson, and Tiffany Karim. Gilmore was supported by 58 percent of voters.
Council Member William Meridith also drew multiple challengers, and one of them, Penny Mallet, secured 42 percent of the votes to Meridith’s 37 percent. The two of them will advance to a runoff without Ainsley Stelling (22 percent).
Lewisville ISD
Voters in Lewisville ISD — which overlaps with Coppell — were considering three bond propositions related to stadiums, natatoriums, and other athletics facilities. Although very similar propositions were rejected last November, all three measures passed this time, with levels of support ranging from 55 percent to 58 percent.
Lewisville ISD voters were also faced with the unusual prospect of choosing between two incumbent trustees. As a result of the district transitioning from purely at-large elections to a mix of geographic and at-large seats, Michelle Alkhatib made the “strategic decision” (her words, not mine) to run for the seat held by Allison Lassahn, although Alkhatib’s term doesn’t end until 2026.
A majority of voters must not have been comfortable with this “unorthodox candidacy” (Lassahn’s words, not mine). Lassahn won another three-year term with 61 percent of the votes. Meanwhile, Alkhatib gets to keep serving alongside Lassahn for two more years, which shouldn’t be awkward at all.
Alkhatib made this odd move because she and Lassahn reside in the same area; the switch to geographic districts will force her to sit out for a year before she can run for an at-large seat in 2027. If she had captured Lassahn’s seat, no such break would have been necessary.
City of Dallas
Although Cypress Waters is within Coppell ISD, everyone who lives there is a resident of Dallas. Voters in Big D were considering 10 bond propositions with a combined value of $1.25 billion. All of them were overwhelmingly approved.
Nearly 700 Homeowners Seek Rehab Grants
Allison Matalone had a plan. The City of Coppell is going to give out grants worth up to $10,000 to help residents rehabilitate older homes, and Matalone was determined to secure one. The 37-year-old house she shares with her husband and their three sons could use a new set of windows.
Matalone knew the application window for these grants was going to open at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, even though I mistakenly said 9 a.m. in last week’s edition (my apologies). Assuming that the number of applicants would crash the city’s website, Matalone decided to apply in person. So she set a predawn alarm and showed up at Town Center — with her 5-month-old son in tow — at 4:30 in the morning, as if she was camping out for concert tickets.