Bizarre City Council meeting certifies David Prescott as winner of Amarillo’s Place 3 runoff

In a strange and unusually sparse special meeting on Monday afternoon, the Amarillo City Council officially certified the razor-thin results of the June 7 runoff election for Place 3, declaring David Prescott the winner by a margin of just 51 votes over incumbent Tom Scherlen.

The brief but contentious meeting, held at City Hall on June 16, drew attention not for the outcome itself but for the circumstances surrounding it. With only two of the city’s five council members present—Don Tipps and newly elected Tim Reid—the meeting barely met the legal quorum necessary to conduct election business under Texas state law. The final vote to approve the certification passed 2-0.

An Unusual Quorum, a Narrow Result

Texas Election Code allows just two members of a governing body to form a quorum for the purposes of canvassing election results, and that little-known provision was the saving grace for Monday’s session.

“This wasn’t planned,” said Councilmember Tipps during the meeting. “Most of the council was out of town. It just happened that Tim [Reid] and I were here. I only found out this morning that two of us was enough to make it legal.”

David Prescott, an environmental consultant and owner of engineering firm Talon LPE, received 4,660 votes to Scherlen’s 4,609. While modest in number, the votes came after a hard-fought campaign between Prescott and Scherlen, a former businessman and nonprofit leader. Prescott will be sworn in next Tuesday, June 24.

Residents Question Election Process

Despite the public comment period, two residents raised serious concerns about the integrity of the election, specifically related to ballot handling and surveillance issues in Randall County.

Claudette Smith, one of the speakers, submitted screenshots she claimed showed inactive surveillance cameras during a June 14 ballot board meeting in Randall County. She also alleged that some mail-in ballots might have been sent based on outdated or invalid applications, saying the process was “compromised” and calling for a pause in certification.

Another resident, Mike Fisher, questioned whether two councilmembers were truly enough to constitute a legal quorum under Amarillo’s home-rule charter, despite what state law allows.

City Attorney Bryan McWilliams responded by citing Section 67.004(a) of the Texas Election Code, confirming that two councilmembers were indeed sufficient. He clarified the council’s role: to accept or reject the certified results—not to investigate alleged irregularities. Any formal challenges, he emphasized, would need to be pursued in court by a candidate.

Election Officials Respond

In response to the concerns, High Plains Pundit contacted Randall County Elections Administrator Shannon Lackey, who acknowledged a brief livestream outage on June 14. She said the problem was a technical glitch, but that cameras continued recording and footage is available upon request from the sheriff’s office.

“There were poll watchers present,” Lackey said. “We are compliant with the law. It was just an unfortunate incident.”

Lackey confirmed that four late ballots were reviewed during that meeting—three for Scherlen and one for Prescott—and were accepted. City Secretary Stephanie Coggins echoed this explanation, noting that provisional ballots had already been counted in the final results and the number of unreturned mail-in ballots fell within a typical range.

Prescott, acknowledging the controversy surrounding his win, emphasized his commitment to electoral transparency.

“Voting integrity is crucial,” he said after the vote. “I don’t want any part of anything that isn’t absolutely right. If people are going to take the time to vote, it has to be correct. Otherwise, everything we stand for as a country is in question.”

A New Chapter for the Council

With Prescott and fellow newcomer Tim Reid joining the council, Amarillo’s leadership team now includes Mayor Cole Stanley, Don Tipps, Les Simpson, Reid, and Prescott. Though the runoff saw relatively low turnout, the narrow margin reflects a sharply divided electorate, and all eyes will now turn to how the new council dynamic unfolds.

What’s Next

Prescott will be officially sworn in at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, June 24, just ahead of the council’s next executive session. While his certification ends the runoff saga, the procedural oddities and public skepticism surrounding Monday’s meeting suggest that local interest—and scrutiny—of the city’s electoral processes may only be beginning.

Even in municipal politics, where proceedings are often routine, Monday’s meeting was a reminder that even the most routine government proceedings can take unexpected turns.