10-Term Rolling Hills Councilman Loses Re-Election Bid

With all but 55 votes counted Tuesday night, it was projected that Bea Dieringer and Jeff Pieper would be elected to the Rolling Hills City Council, filling the two seats up for grabs and ending Councilman Thomas Heinsheimer's 41-year tenure on the council.

Measure A, the horse stable zoning ordinance, was projected to be voted down;  Measure B, the view preservation measure, was still too close to call.

• Full Results: Rolling Hills Election Results Page

According to Rolling Hills City Clerk and City Manager Anton Dahlerbruch, officials still need to tally 55 more provisional ballots as well as mail-in ballots that were received after the cutoff time of 5 p.m. Tuesday. Those ballots will be counted on Wednesday with the final results released Wednesday evening, Dahlerbruch said.

As it stood Tuesday night, both Dieringer and Pieper finished as the likely winners of the City Council race, receiving 450 and 381 votes, respectively. Heinsheimer finished Tuesday night trailing with 292 votes, while Spencer Karpf ended with 296 votes.

Heinsheimer, who started serving on the City Council in 1972, said that while he wasn't re-elected, he still believes the council is a strong one.

"We had a nice election ... We have two new people in who I am sure are going to be there a long time," Heinsheimer said after the results were announced. "It is going to be a terrific City Council ... This is a fine result."

After 41 years with the city, Heinsheimer said that he will probably still find a way to stay involved with the community.

"I'll do whatever can be useful," Heinsheimer said. "When you have been with the city this long, I'll find something to do."

Heinsheimer shook hands with Dieringer shortly after learning of the results and congratulated her on her win. 

Dieringer, a deputy district attorney, finished the night with the most votes and credits much of her election success to her campaign practice of knocking on every door in Rolling Hills and meeting voters in person.

"I pretty much hit almost every registered voter at least once ... People were very happy when I came by the door," Dieringer said, calling it the old-fashioned way of doing things. "Letting people know who you are and why you are running and let them know I am not out to replace anybody ... You can counteract anything that somebody might have said that was misinformed."

With her new seat on the council, Dieringer said it will be important to listen the residents and weigh their concerns before making decisions.

"I think listening to our residents making sure their views are considered, and incorporating those views into the actions we do as councilmembers is important," Dieringer said.

Pieper, a current planning commissioner for the city and the second winner of the night, said that in the end, each candidate was working toward the same goal.

"Everyone that was running wants what is best for what we are trying to do and we have slightly different interpretations," Pieper said, adding that in the grand scheme of things, life in Rolling Hills is pretty good. "The biggest thing that brought everyone out to vote here is views ... It's a great place."

City officials also said that voter turnout during this year's election was high.

While many cities average around a 30 percent turnout during municipal elections, Dahlerbruch said Rolling Hills' turnout was around 50 percent.

"We are very excited to see that many people participate," Dahlerbruch said. "It was a great turnout."