The cracks of division shone through on Tuesday night as hardliners filled up two rows of seats at the Kerrville City Council meeting to see their favored candidate Roman Garcia sworn in for a second term as Place 1 councilmember.

Garcia’s swearing-in, led by assistant city secretary Kesha Franchina, received a standing ovation and none more enthusiastic than his band of backers. When it came to others, the clapping was begrudging at best. Kerr County Commissioners Harley David Belew and Rich Paces sat in the small crowd, both backing Garcia despite not living in the city limits.

When former Mayor Bill Blackburn spoke in praise of outgoing Councilmember Kim Clarkson, those in the pack only clapped sparingly. The same thing happened when Mayor Judy Eychner and Clarkson spoke.

What was supposed to be a time marked by a peaceful and gracious change in leadership turned into a stark reminder that the election was contentious, expensive and downright vile — orchestrated by many sitting in Arcadia Live!

And Tuesday’s underlying element was an undecided race between Jeff Harris and Barbara Dewell Ferguson for Place 1. Harris holds an eight-vote lead, with a recount on Friday morning.

During her departing remarks, Clarkson acknowledged not agreeing with Garcia but offered conciliatory praise of him.

“It’s not a secret here that we have sparred during meetings,” Clarkson said of Garcia. “But I can say that I’ve enjoyed telling you some of my corny jokes that you laughed at. We have actually had some good conversations about real issues.”

However, Clarkson didn’t hold back against those who have attempted to bully the City Council and Mayor Judy Eychner. Belew, in particular, has called Eychner a liar on his radio show and harangued the City Council over LGBTQ+ books at the Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library.

“To all Council and staff, do not let the voices of anger and hate stop the goals we have for the future of our city,” Clarkson said. “Continue to confidently confront falsehoods and words of untruth.”

Sitting in the room were some of the people who served as financial surrogates for Garcia, Dewell Ferguson and Kerrville Independent School District trustee candidate Brandon Aery. They included David Barker, who got beat by Blackburn in a race for mayor in 2020 and helped pay for ads in The Kerrville Daily Times falsely accusing Harris and school Trustee Jack Stevens of being Democrats.

Garcia’s comments after his swearing-in focused less on policy; he’s still outnumbered 4-1 but offered a shared vision of many in the room.

“I hope we can work toward appreciating the voices in our community members more,” Garcia said. “Finding value in differing opinions. Embracing open dialogue and discussion in the public sphere and respecting the knowledge, skills and perspectives that we all bring to the table.”