Friday, May. 16, 2008

Wilkinson, Coy Battle for Place 5 Seat in Runoff

By Scott Price

Staff Writer

Traci Wilkinson and Chris Coy will face each other again, but this time in a June 14 runoff election for the Place 5 Grapevine City Council seat.

Candidates running for this seat alongside Wilkinson and Coy were Becky St. John and Phil Lang. None of the four candidates received the necessary votes to win the May 10 election outright.

Wilkinson, 42, and Coy, 41, received the highest number of votes with 47.3 percent and 27.5 percent, respectively.

The Place 5 seat was vacated by Ted Ware, who decided not to run this year after serving on the council since 1979.

Traci Wilkinson

"I just want to thank my supporters for getting me into a runoff," Wilkinson said. "Congratulations to Chris Coy for making the runoff. I look forward to the next 30 days of making my case to the Grapevine voters."

Last year, Traci Wilkinson had a runoff against Mike Lease, who now serves on the Grapevine City Council. Two years ago Wilkinson ran against Mayor William D. Tate.

"It’s a new election all over, and I plan to run it better than last time," Wilkinson said.

It is important for people of her generation to serve, Wilkinson said, and that is why she continues to run for Grapevine City Council.

Wilkinson is an attorney whose practice is the Wilkinson Law Group in Grapevine.

She is also a partner with LandAmerica Title Company in Grapevine.

Wilkinson, who has lived in Grapevine 16 years, is active in community organizations and this year serves as the Grapevine Rotary Club Special Olympics Committee chairwoman.

Wilkinson is also involved with Grapevine Chamber of Commerce Women’s Division.

She has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Texas Tech University, and she has a juris doctor degree from Texas Wesleyan University School of Law.

"I have attended many of the council meetings and workshops, and I have built a lot of bridges, and my supporters encouraged me to run," she said.

"We had almost 50 percent, so I think I can win this election."

Wilkinson has been married to Lanny Wilkinson for 18 years. They have three children, ages 12, 15 and 16.

Chris Coy

Coy said he expected there would be a runoff election.

"Mathematically with a four-way race you are going to have a runoff," he said.

Coy said he feels he and Becky St. John were both running mostly based on their experience serving on the Grapevine Planning and Zoning Commission, so Coy thinks that the vote was split between the two of them.

Coy, who has lived in Grapevine for 19 years, served the last 12 years on the Grapevine P&Z Commission, and prior to that served five years on the Board of Zoning Adjustment.

Coy said he feels it is important for a person to be involved in his or her community. He said he believes that serving on the City Council is a good way to serve.

He stated that he is experienced working on boards and commissions, whereas Wilkinson has not served on any boards or commissions.

According to finance reports filed with the city of Grapevine, Wilkinson has so far spent about four times as much money as Coy.

Coy, who is district sales manager for American Airlines, is involved in local community volunteer efforts, including the Grapevine Rotary Club, for which he currently serves as treasurer.

Coy has a master’s degree in finance from Southern Methodist University.

Coy said he would like to bring attractive development to the city, maintain the historic downtown, manage transportation projects, increase city services, and lower property taxes.

Coy has been married to Traci Coy for 11 years, and they have three children. The family attends First Baptist Church of Colleyville.