Pieces fall into place for Pyle

By Barry Porterfield

Even with some of the pieces still moving the puzzle of who will be the next District 2 commissioner in Garvin County was answered with Tom Pyle's big win last week.

Pyle, a District 2 employee for the last 12 years, basically doubled up the votes going to Shon Richardson to claim the office in the November 5 election.

When the votes were totaled up Pyle finished with just about 68 percent of the ballots cast, which comes to 2,542 votes.

Richardson received 1,197 votes in his unsuccessful run to regain the office where he served for nearly 12 years before stepping down in 2016.

The only real question is when Pyle will step in since the office is vacant after the early retirement of Gary Ayres a few months ago.

Garvin County Clerk Lori Fulks said the first step was getting the election results certified, which was done last Friday. Those results then went to the state election board.

From there a request has already been submitted to Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt as he must appoint Pyle to serve the remainder of Ayres' term before then officially starting his own full term in early January.

"We will wait for Governor Stitt to make an appointment first," Fulks said.

"We have to have an appointment from the governor's office for the fulfillment of Gary's term."

Back on election night Pyle said he was pleasantly surprised with the high level of support turning the race into an easy walk into the District 2 office.

"I was at a watch party with quite a few friends," Pyle said. "When votes started coming in they were better than I expected.

"I've been working hard for years, but now is the time to get to work. The hard work begins now."

With the win now in hand Pyle believes he will fit in nicely with District 1 Commissioner Randy Chandler and District 3 Commissioner Mike Gollihare.

"I want to approach things by thinking it through and talking to other people. I want to methodically look at something and then make my decision," he said.

"From the conversations I've had I believe the three of us will work well together. I think I'll get a lot of help between the three of us."

An example already comes with a bridge in District 2 taken out from a recent storm. Pyle plans to seek advice from Chandler.

"He's had some experience with bridges. Once I get sworn in I will be working with him to get some advice."

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Up next is a filing period for school candidates.

Each school district in Garvin County has at least one school board office that's part of the filings coming in a few weeks.

Filings for incumbents and challengers are scheduled from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, December 2-4 at the Garvin County Election Board in the county courthouse in Pauls Valley.

Schools here include Pauls Valley, Whitebead, Wynnewood, Paoli, Stratford, Elmore City-Pernell, Maysville and Lindsay.

There is also a board candidate filing for Mid-America Technology Center in Wayne, which will be done at the McClain County Election Board in Purcell.