Blackburn and Spicer Win Seats on Monrovia City Council

Alexander Blackburn and Larry Spicer finished ahead of write-in candidate Robert Parry to claim two open seats on the Monrovia City Council Tuesday.

Blackburn garnered the most votes with 1,691 and Spicer finished close behind with 1,504. Parry ran a distant third with 983 votes. Some provisional and vote-by-mail ballots remain uncounted.

Blackbburn told KGEM interviewer Ralph Walker Tuesday night that he intends to spend his initial time in office educating himself on the issues so he's ready to deal with city business.

"My responsibility to the city starts on day one," he told Walker.

Reached by phone, Spicer said he was pleased that he won and said he had fun going door-to-door during the campaign.

"I'm just thankful that everything worked out like it did," he said.

Though Parry was far behind in vote-by-mail balloting, the write-in candidate did have a better showing in precinct voting and edged out the two other candidates in one precinct. Still, he trailed from the get-go and remained hundreds of votes back throughout the night as results poured in.

"So far the numbers show I'm not nearly as far up the hill as I'd like to be," Parry told Walker as vote-by-mail results were being counted.

Spicer will join the council again after serving as an interim councilman in place of Clarence Shaw while Shaw was on military leave. Spicer had to vacate the seat when Shaw abruptly resigned in January.

Blackburn was victorious in his first run for political office. A local attorney, he ran with the backing of Mayor Mary Ann Lutz and the other sitting members of the council.

Lutz cruised to another four-year mayoral term unopposed, garnering 2,326 votes. City Clerk Alice Atkins and City Treasurer Stephen Baker were also re-elected after running unopposed.