Republicans took all four of the contested seats on the Franklin City Council Tuesday.
Bob Heuchan earned 38 percent of votes and Shawn Taylor won 35 percent of votes in the Franklin City Council at-large race. They beat Independent Erin Davis who received 27 percent of votes.
Republican incumbent Kenneth Austin held on to the District 4 seat he has held for years, earning 68 percent of votes. His challenger, Independent newcomer Zach Stevenson earned 32 percent of votes.
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In District 3, Republican incumbent Andrew “Drew” Eggers held on to his seat with 68 percent of votes while Democrat Donald Smith earned nearly 32 percent of votes.
Daniel Blankenship, Anne McGuinness and Chris Rynerson all ran unopposed for seats in Districts 1, 2 and 5.
The seven-member city council sets annual spending for the city, make policy changes, adopt new local rules and ordinances, approve new taxes and appoint members to various city boards.
Incumbent, newcomer Republican snag at-large
Heuchan was appointed to his current council seat by a Republican caucus, while Taylor won the Republican spring primary.
Heuchan, the retired president of Mutual Savings Bank, wants to continue the rebuilding and re-imagining of the city that began after the 2008 flood. He pointed to improvements that have been made throughout the city with tax-increment financing dollars, and that such projects would not have been possible otherwise.
He’s proud to have been part of what he calls a resourcefulness among city leaders to have a vision for how Franklin should develop and then use the tax dollars the right way.
The result, he has said, has been overall growth and increasing property values, which benefits the entire community and Franklin Schools.
“I love the city of Franklin and what we are doing, we still have a lot of stuff left to do,” Heuchan said Tuesday.
He wants to be a part of the city completing a series of roundabouts that help trucks navigate to the industrial park and helps typical drivers too.
Taylor, a political newcomer who won one of the two Republican party nominations in the spring, wants to help keep the city’s momentum on downtown development, building the new amphitheater park, redeveloping the east side and redesigning U.S. 31 with the state.
But beyond those specific projects that advance the city and make it ready for the future, he wants to focus on the youth of Franklin and get them more involved in all aspects off their community, he said. For example, when students are more involved in arts or sports, that engagement helps them grow. Such involvement is key as all communities face youth mental health issues, he said.
Council veteran holds
on to District 4 seat
Austin has served on the council since 2004, including the past 12 years in the District 4 seat. He is proud to have been part of the team that has helped lead Franklin’s downtown revitalization, economic growth and other achievements, though he wants to continue the work that he’s started.
District 4 includes much of downtown Franklin south of Jefferson Street, as well as parts of the east side of the city, south of King Street.
Austin joined the city council in 2004, winning a caucus to represent District 5. In 2007, he won another caucus, this time for District 4, and has held that seat ever since. He is currently the council’s president.
His decision in running for a fourth term is to carry on the momentum that is building in the city, he has said.
Incumbent wins second term in District 3
Eggers won reelection for his second term as the district’s representative on the council.
A former deputy prosecuting attorney for Johnson County and current general practice attorney, he aims to continue the progress he’s helped the council already achieve, as well as moving Franklin forward as it looks to the future.
After being elected in 2015, Eggers was involved in a number of important projects and decisions made by the council. He was part of the Franklin Redevelopment Commission, which has been working on trails projects to develop the U.S. 31 corridor and the greenway trails area along Young’s Creek.
He was on the exploratory committee looking at a home for the Franklin City Court. The committee was able to figure out a way to move the court into a renovated space on the north side of the city, in the current home of the police department. The council was able to do that without raising taxes.
District 3 covers the west side of the city.
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Andrew "Drew" Eggers;68%
Donald A. Smith;32%
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Ken Austin;68%
Zach Stevenson;32%
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Top two vote getters get elected
Erin Davis;27%
Bob Heuchan;38%
Shawn Taylor;35%
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