When the city-ordered recount of the Killeen City Council District 4 race resulted in a tie on Thursday, candidate Brockley Moore was officially knocked out of the race.
Moore served on the council from 2015 to 2017, including an eight-month stint as mayor pro tem. The politically active Killeen resident said Friday he feels good about his campaign, which garnered 112 votes. Incumbent Steve Harris, 51, and candidate Michael Boyd, 36, both received 181 votes, and now head to a second election to determine who will represent west Killeen.
The city council will vote at Tuesdayâs meeting to certify the recount and a new election day will be determined.
With the tie made official by the canvass board, the city is heading to a recount in the Killeen City Council District 4 race. The recount will take place at 9 a.m. today at City Hall.
The official results of the May 1 election show incumbent Steve Harris with 181 votes, Michael Boyd with 181, and Brockley Moore with 112. Harris will remain in his seat until a winner is decided, which is in accordance with the Texas State Constitution, city officials said.
On Tuesday the city released a memo from City Attorney Traci Briggs to City Manager Kent Cagle outlining the status of the race and discussing next steps.
The Killeen City Council officially swore in two new members and elected a new mayor pro tem on Tuesday night. Councilmember Steve Harris will retain his District 4 seat until that race is settled either by recount or by a new election.
At present, the election is tied with Harris and challenger Michael Boyd receiving 181 votes apiece.
The canvass board, composed of Councilmembers Ken Wilkerson and Rick Williams, presented the ordinance, which showed 2,583 votes were cast in the May 1 election and listed the official vote tallies for each candidate.
When Mayor Jose Segarra called for the vote to approve the canvass, Councilmember Mellisa Brown chose to abstain from the vote.
Killeen is facing a decided lack of experience on its city council.
Unless a recount of the District 4 votes from the May 1 election overturns those results, three new members will take their seats on the council dais in the coming week.
Itâs a significant shift, especially since voters put three other first-timers into office in the COVID-delayed November election â leaving the new council with just one member who has more than six months of experience in elected office.
Only Debbie Nash-King, who was reelected to a third consecutive term on May 1, can be considered a veteran at this point. Unofficially, two-term incumbent Steve Harris lost by two votes to Michael Boyd in his reelection bid, but late Thursday he filed a formal petition for a recount. If Boyd prevails, the council will have novices filling the District 1, 2 and 4 seats.
The fourth criminal homicide in Killeen this year happened on May 2, police said.
The man who died in the fatal shooting at a Killeen nightclub early May 2 is 28-year-old Michael Dequan Sanders.
Killeen police are still investigating the homicide that occurred around 3:10 a.m. Sunday at Club Legends, 308 S. Second St.
That morning, police were dispatched to the club for a call of a shooting victim.
Officers performed life-saving measures until paramedics arrived, police said.
Sanders succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene at 4:16 a.m. by Justice of the Peace Bill Cooke.
This is the fourth criminal homicide in the city of Killeen this year.