By Traci Chapman
Published on August 28, 2008

David Anderson won Tuesday’s District 2 County Commissioner runoff election after capturing more than 60 percent of the vote.

Anderson defeated Richard Engle 1,397 to 926 votes. A Mustang contractor, Anderson emerged on top of a field of five candidates in the July 29 primary with 1,042 votes, followed by 908 ballots cast for Engle.

Rounding out the primary slate were county employee Theresa Ramsey at 554, former Commissioner Monty Keely with a total of 388 ballots and Mustang City Councilman Scott Gibson with 271 votes.

Anderson, a lifelong Mustang resident, is the owner of Dave Anderson Construction, which he has operated since 1981.

His company specializes in infrastructure construction for communities and developments, particularly working on sewer and water projects for a variety of entities, he said.

If elected, he said he would turn the day-to-day operations over to his son, Mark Anderson.

Anderson and his wife, Debby Anderson, built the Cedar Springs Arena in Mustang in 1997. They operated the facility, producing rodeo and horse-related events until they sold it in 2002, he said.

Anderson said during the campaign one issue becoming increasingly important to the county and its residents are finding a way to stretch revenues. He said Tuesday he planned to make that issue a priority when he takes office Jan. 2.

“Costs of fuel and other items are rising, and we need to take care of the residents and our employees. One thing we can look at is wasteful spending,” he said. “If we look for creative solutions to help stretch available funds — things like alternative fuels or utilizing better training and methods in road construction so as to eliminate constant repairs are things we need to look at — we’ll be ahead of the curve.”

Anderson will take the reins from District 2 Commissioner Don Young, who did not run for re-election. Anderson said he knows there are issues residents want addressed by him, and he plans to be a “Commissioner for everyone.”

“First, we have this jail issue and what to do about it, and I want to work with everyone involved to help find the answer to this problem,” he said. “Another big problem in the county is roads — we need to make sure we are responsive to all of our residents. It doesn’t matter if they live in the unincorporated area or in one of the cities. We can find a way to better work together to get those roads improved.”

As election officials expected, voter turnout was “extremely light,” with 2,323 people casting a vote in the Commissioners race. County Election Board Secretary Dorothy Riley said that represents a turnout of less than 1 percent.

“We expect larger numbers in the general election because of the national races,” she said.