By Khalida Sarwari
Sunnyvale voters elected three new council members and one incumbent and passed one of two measures, according to preliminary election results Tuesday night.
Pat Meyering, an attorney and college instructor, defeated Bo Chang, 41, a small business owner, by 1,054 votes with 54 percent of the vote, according to unofficial figures.
In a narrower race, Jim Davis, 59, a public safety officer, beat opponents Jack Walker, an engineering project manager and former council member, and Steve Hoffman, 47, a chief executive officer, with 38 percent of the vote.
In another neck-and-neck race, Tara Martin-Milius, a teacher, bested Fred Fowler, 54, a corporate vice president and former mayor, and Maria Alice Pan, a community volunteer, with 46 percent of the vote.
Incumbent Councilman David Whittum, 50, was re-elected with 10, 974 votes.
Measure B, which will amend the city charter to delete the current automatic 5 percent annual cost-of-living increase in council salaries and reduce future council compensation increases, passed by a landslide 89 percent of the vote.
Defeated, however, was Measure B, a proposed charter amendment that would change Sunnyvale’s method of choosing a mayor to a direct election by voters instead of the current method where the city council selects one of its members by majority vote as mayor for a two-year term.
