Residents in Plano and Frisco have elected two new city council members in a special election.
Shun Thomas was elected to Plano City Council Place 7 with about 60.4% of the vote as of Saturday evening according to unofficial election results. Julie Holmer gave up the seat to run in the Collin County commissioner precinct 4 race as a Democrat. Thomas, an educational specialist at Children's Health Plano, defeated Colleen Aguilar-Epstein.
Plano is one of several North Texas cities that has an election scheduled in May on the potential withdrawal from the Dallas Area Rapid Transit System. Plano leaders have long said the city pays too much into DART for the services it receives and has been leading the charge to cut DART's funding since a 2024 report that said the city contributed $109 million to the agency, while only $44 million was spent within the city.
Thomas told KERA in a previous interview the city could’ve collaborated more effectively with DART to find a better solution.
“There's so many things that we would need to fix with our relationship with DART and how we collaborate with DART,” she said.
Thomas said she’ll support whatever the voters choose but would prefer to continue working with DART to improve services.
In Frisco, Ann Anderson appears to have defeated Mark Piland in the Frisco City Council Place 1 race with about 51% of the vote as of Saturday evening according to unofficial election results. John Keating stepped down from the seat to run for mayor.
Piland, who retired as Frisco’s fire chief in 2023, ran for the Place 1 seat in 2024 and lost to Keating. He also ran for mayor in 2023.
The Dallas Morning News obtained public records in 2023 that found Piland was investigated for misconduct. The story alleges that Piland had staff alter a mayday report to make the department look better, according to an external investigation. Piland had ordered the report after a firefighter was injured in an apartment fire.
Ann Anderson, a member of the Frisco Chamber of Commerce executive board, is the chair of Frisco’s Art and Culture Advisory Board.
The next elections in Collin County are the Democratic and Republican primaries. Early voting is scheduled to start February 17.
Got a tip? Email Caroline Love at clove@kera.org.
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