City Councilman Mike Burdge win re-election in Ward 3

Sand Springs City Councilman Mike Burdge won re-election to the Ward 3 Council position Tuesday in a close 42-32 vote against challenger Justin Sean Tockey.

Burdge, 68, has been in office since 1996, including 13 years as Mayor and 6 years as Vice Mayor. He is also the Cross Country Head Coach at Charles Page High School

Sand Springs uses a Council-Manager form of government, with seven volunteer Council members who hire a City Manager to run day-to-day operations of the City. Council members receive no compensation. There are six wards in Sand Springs, each with their own Council member, and there is a seventh member who is elected from the city at-large.

Council members are elected to three-year terms, and they elect Mayor and Vice Mayor from within. Mayor and Vice Mayor are largely ceremonial positions in the Sand Springs government, and each is a one-year appointment. Council meets one to two times per month to vote on permits, resolutions, budgets, policy changes, and other decisions recommended by City staff and advisory boards.

Burdge will be sworn in alongside Ward 4 Councilwoman Nancy Riley, who filed for re-election unopposed. Riley ran for Council in 2017 but was defeated by Christine Hamner. Hamner resigned last year after moving out of her district, and Riley was appointed by Council in August to fill the vacancy. An election was not held due to the shortness of the remaining term. She will now begin a full three-year term after not receiving any challengers.

Three Council positions will go up for re-election in 2021, including Ward 5 (Beau Wilson), Ward 6 (Brian Jackson), and At-Large (Mayor Jim Spoon). Ward 1 (Phil Nollan) and Ward 2 (Vice Mayor Patty Dixon) will hold office until 2022.