Monitor Photo/Carla Gray
The City of Tool swears in its new mayor and council members during a special meeting Nov. 13. Incumbent Council Member Robert Stykes (from left), newly elected Mayor Pro Tempore Greg Figueroa, newly elected Council Member Tommy Salvato, newly elected Mayor Vera Bennett, Incumbent Council Member Daniel Sayre and newly elected Council Member Mike Dumont will have their first regular monthly council meeting Nov. 20.

TOOL‑Tool City Council held a special meeting Nov. 13 to canvass votes from the Nov. 4 City of Tool general election.
City Secretary Kimberly Price gave the following information, “There was a total of 1,785 registered voters within the City of Tool, there were 602 ballots passed for a 33.73% voter turnout. First we will go over mayor for the City of Tool, for Vera Bennett there was 313 votes total, three absentee, 165 early voted and 145 on election day. Greg Figueroa had 280 votes total, zero absentee, 197 early voting and 83 on election day. Tommy Salvato for council had 245 total votes, zero absentee, 169 early voting and 76 on election day. Mike Dumont had 229 total votes, one absentee, 160 early voting, and 68 on election day. Michael Fladmark had 203 votes, three absentee, 122 early voting, and 78 on election day. BG Pearce had 186 total votes, one absentee, 121 early voting and 64 on election day. Mark Holley had 86 total votes, zero absentee, 48 early voting and 38 election day. Randall Newkirk had 70 total votes, zero absentee, 32 early voting and 38 on election day.”
After the canvass, Mayor Mike Dumont wanted to recognize the outgoing governing body. Dumont spoke specifically to Michael Fladmark. Dumont said, “You have been on council for many years. I know you have said you are not going anywhere. I know you will be doing your thing in Henderson County and communicating that information to us as well. Great working with you.” Fladmark responded with, “I do want to say thank you to all the citizens, staff and council that has supported me all these years. We have come a long way, it has not been an easy road but it has been a progressive one and we have ended up where the city is financially stable, accountable and transparent. We have a city staff that is actually a great city staff, looks out and works for the city. Going forward there is still a lot to do, we all have an agenda. My agenda was building community, I think we have done that. I want to thank my best friend and partner Jean Bothe for hanging with me all these years and all the things I do, again thank you.”
Figueroa commented to Fladmark, “Thank you for your service and we expect to see you very close by. And Dumont, thank you for your services over the last few years you have done an incredible job and we appreciate your service. I would like to congratulate Vera on her victory as mayor and look forward to working with her.”
Bennett expressed her gratitude by saying, “I would like to thank the citizens for supporting me and being here for me over the last two years. The staff,  I look forward to working with you in a different position and I think we can grow Tool together. I think there is a lot to be done in Tool. We have the greatest staff, great police department and we have a really good council. I look forward to working with each of the new council so that we can keep Tool moving into a forward direction. I want to thank Fladmark, thank you for the times I called you on the phone and said what do I do about this and let’s talk about that. Thank you for caring about the park and the way you care about the citizens. I look forward to seeing you out here at every meeting. I look forward to working with you on committees and projects. I know you are going to be involved indirectly, thank you so much for everything you have done for this city and all the support you have given to me.” Bennett continued to thank each council member and tell them that she is looking forward to working with them. 
The swearing in began with Salvato, Dumont and then the newly elected Mayor Vera Bennett. The next item was to vote for a mayor pro tempore. Council Member Salvato nominated council Member Figueroa with a second from Dumont, all council members voted unanimously. Figueroa was then sworn in as the mayor pro tempore.